


The Day After the World Ended (It Continued to Spin On Its Axis Just Fine)

by kitkatt0430



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Barry and Hartley are ridiculously insecure sometimes, Barry calls on reinforcements because he recognizes that one person can't do everything, Barry has a slightly different encounter with the Speed Force, Because Gideon is still in the time vault, Cisco just wishes people would stop making out in the cortex, Did I just bring in the Legends of Tomorrow for a team up?, Episode: s02e17 Flash Back, Episode: s02e19 Back to Normal, Episode: s02e20 Rupture, Episode: s02e21 The Runaway Dinosaur, Episode: s02e22 Invincible, Friends to Lovers, Hartley has a panic attack when he thinks Barry is dead, Jesse's idea of playing matchmaker is kind of hilarious and very blunt, Leonard Snart Lives, M/M, Mutual Pining, Really she's just tired of these two flirting all the time and yet still getting nowhere, Takes the guys a while to get their act together, There are more metas causing problems than just Earth-2 metas after all
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-10-11 08:49:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 34,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10460796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitkatt0430/pseuds/kitkatt0430
Summary: It should have been Hartley’s moment of triumph.  The perfect day where nothing can go wrong.  The ‘dementor’ returned and Hartley banished it again, sashaying away as the hero of the hour off to have dinner reconciling him with his parents.  Instead his parents manage to somehow double down on their prejudices while claiming they’re trying to be open minded and his failed plans that, as it turns out, didn’t totally fail in the timeline Barry now remembers have come back to bite him on the ass.  Because now Barry doesn’t remember that they’re friends.  (Lucky for him, Barry might be enough like a friendly puppy for that not to matter.)





	1. Following the Flash Back

Hartley slammed the front door of his apartment shut, then winced at the sound as he turned around to lock the door.

He’d been riding the high of his success when he’d arrived at his parents house; everything had seemed to be going so well. His parents had asked him about his work and he’d told them about his job at STAR Labs, talking about one of his pet projects and vaguely outlining some of the projects he was working with Cisco and Caitlin for the CCPD to use in suppressing meta powers. In turn they talked some about how Rathaway Corp. was doing and ‘wouldn’t it be nice if, maybe in a few years, Hartley took up a job there as the heir apparent?’

That was when Hartley started to get nervous. He stressed how much he loved his work and preferred being in the R&D side of things. Hartley just couldn’t see that changing any time soon, or ever, and he tried to make that clear without being insulting, aiming for flattered but uninterested.

They backed off the subject and Hartley thought that would be the end of the weirdness of the evening, except it really, really wasn’t.

“ _Are you seeing anyone?”_

His mother had been the one to ask, her voice somehow both hesitant and firm all at once. Hartley had answered ‘no’ and then followed it up with a ‘but there’s someone who, maybe… well I haven’t asked him yet, but I think he might be interested.’ He’d thought of Barry and all the time they’d been spending together lately and blushed slightly.

He’d also watched his parents faces closely, wondering how they’d take that assertion. Because if they weren’t okay with him being gay except in abstract, then this wasn’t really going to work.

They’d taken it by asking how that ‘person’ might react to keeping their relationship low-key. They knew a young lady of good standing in the right circles who had the same proclivities Hartley did and it would be a good political match for the company if the Rathaways and the Evergoods joined together in marriage; after all, both Hartley and Penny could have lovers on the side. It was the perfect solution. Everybody would win.

His parents looked so confused when Hartley got up from the table and walked out.

So Hartley leaned against the door for a long moment, sniffling back tears at the memory of the shitty evening, and then pulled out his cell phone to dial Barry’s number.

“Hello?”

“Barry.” Hartley’s relief was written all over his tone and he knew it. Normally he’d be embarrassed to have his emotions so easily read but… he really wanted a friend to talk to. “Dinner didn’t work out, which I guess I should have seen coming. Maybe I should have had you come along for back up like you offered. They’d have never said what they did in front of an audience.”

“I… offered to come along?” Barry sounded so confused and, for a moment, Hartley couldn’t think of why.

Hartley had only been going on and on about his dinner with his parents to Barry for the last week. Barry had been cautioning him to take it slow, meet them at a neutral location like a cafe at lunch time, bring someone along – preferably Barry himself – so that Hartley could have emotional support no matter which way their meeting went… Barry should, if anything, be trying really hard not to say ‘I told you so.’

The other shoe dropped.

Barry didn’t remember advising Hartley not to visit his parents alone because he hadn’t. Because up until he traveled in time and changed things, Hartley hadn’t been part of Team Flash. Hartley had been the Pied Piper with the plan to kill the Flash to stick it to Wells. A plan that Barry probably remembered Hartley enacting in painful detail.

Shit… was Hartley even going to still have a job in the morning?

“You know what?” Hartley heard himself say hollowly. “Don’t worry about it. It’s late and I shouldn’t have bothered you with this.”

“Wait! Hartley? What’s… what’s your address. You shouldn’t be alone right now...”

That clinched it. Barry didn’t know Hartley’s address even though he was over all the time, watching movies, getting advice on how to deal with his inheritance from Wells, or hiding from the terror that was Iris in wedding-planner mode.

“I...” Hartley heard his voice crack as his heart broke. “I’ll be fine. Really. It’s no big deal. I’ll… see you around, Barry,” he said, talking over the speedster and then ending the call abruptly. He didn’t want Barry to hear him crying because none of this was Barry’s fault.

Hartley had several really great months with a good friend to remember, after all, and that was a wonderful gift. He’d just forgotten the lesson he’d learned when Wells had fired him from STAR Labs, that was all.

When it came to good things, Hartley Rathaway never got to keep them.

* * *

 

Barry stared at his phone in shock for several seconds which, to a speedster, can easily be an eternity. Just how much had he changed when it came to Hartley anyway?

He started scrolling through his contacts, hoping that Hartley’s address was in there. No dice. He tried calling Hartley back (at least he had the number), but it just went through to voicemail. Barry didn’t bother leaving a message.

Iris might know, what with all her wedding invitations.

The phone rang for a few moments and then a distracted, “hey, Bar. Need something?”

“Um… so, remember how I was going to go back in time and get the speed equations from Wells today?”

“Yes...” Iris drew the word out slowly. “That did go okay, right?”

“Better than I would have thought,” he told her. “Apparently I sort of changed things. Hartley wasn’t exactly part of Team Flash before all this happened. So now I don’t have his address. He sounded really upset when he called about how his dinner with his parents went and much, much worse when he realized that I didn’t remember discussing that dinner with him beforehand. Then he told me not to worry and that he’s fine and hung up on me. So, obviously things aren’t fine and I should definitely be worried, only I don’t know where to find him.” He paused and then asked, “I don’t suppose...”

“I am texting you his location as we speak,” Iris told him, sounding a bit amused. “Also, you should know, you’ve had the biggest crush on him for months now. As in, things didn’t pan out with Patty – who was definitely crushing on you – because you were more interested spending time with Hartley. He’s is probably the only one who hasn’t noticed your massive crush, so at least there’s that, but I’m pretty sure he reciprocates that crush and now thinks that any chance he had with you has disappeared entirely. So Hartley’s probably busy being heartbroken and dramatic. Be gentle, alright?”

Barry was blushing. He could feel the heat in his cheeks as he heard Iris’ text come in.

Sure, Hartley had proven to be utterly adorable when he was happy, if Barry’s brief glimpse of Hartley’s bubbly grin and cheerful attitude earlier at STAR Labs was any indication. And he was attractive… and Barry kind of wanted to fluff Hartley’s hair for the fun of it… and he totally hadn’t been blushing as red as his suit the first time they met when Hartley made the ‘head to toe leather’ comment. (Okay, he had been blushing a little… and was most definitely not in denial about that because blushing at a villain being all flirty? So not acceptable for a hero. Only… Hartley wasn’t a villain anymore...)

“Thanks, Iris,” he said dryly. “I’ll talk with you later.”

“Love ya, Bar,” she replied, laughter coloring her voice.

Checking contents of the text, Barry smiled in relief. He knew right where Hartley’s apartment was located without needing to check google maps first. Stepping out of his room, he sped to Joe downstairs, not wanting Joe, or Wally, to come looking for him upstairs only to find him gone. “Hey, Joe. Hartley called; his meeting with his parents didn’t go well, so I’m gonna head over to cheer him up.”

“Tell him he’s always welcome here. You know… Barry, if the two of you are dating…”

“We’re not,” Barry squeaked. “We’re really not. But if we were I’d tell you.” More calmly he added, “I know you’d be okay with it if we were.” At least, he was assuming that. Did Joe even like Hartley?

Joe, however, just grinned and nodded reassuringly. “Just making sure.”

“Right. I’m gonna… bye.” Barry sped off.

A few seconds later – Barry might’ve been over-doing his speed to get there as fast as possible – Barry was standing in front of Hartley’s front door. He knocked, waited, then knocked again. He’d never been good at patience even before the whole speedster thing, but now… pretty much non-existent. He was raising his hand to knock a third time when the door creaked open to reveal Hartley’s tear-blotched face.

“You didn’t have to come all this way,” Hartley told him, his voice sounding wrecked from crying. It was pretty clear that Barry’s earlier assessment was completely correct.

Hartley shouldn’t be alone right now.

“Yes I did,” Barry contradicted. “What kind of friend would I be if I left you alone when you’re feeling this terrible? So… are you going to let me in or are we going to stand here really awkwardly all night? Because I’m not going anywhere until I get you to smile a few times at the very least.”

From what he’d seen earlier, Hartley had a lovely smile… and Barry wasn’t already smitten with that smile. No sirree.

Snorting softly in amusement, Hartley held the door open wide enough for Barry to come inside. Barry decided to take that as an invitation and walked in.

“I thought you didn’t know my address,” Hartley said as he closed the door.

“I called Iris. She’s become the keeper of all addresses since she and Eddie finally set a wedding date.” Barry offered Hartley an uncertain smile. “So… what happened at dinner?”

“You don’t have to...” Hartley trailed off and looked down.

Barry was holding his hand. Barry couldn’t remember reaching out, but that… that was fine. He’d have consciously done it had his subconscious not grabbed Hartley’s hand first.

“Hartley. You’re my friend and your parents are jerks. Use me as a sounding board to vent at… or don’t, but whichever you chose pick it because that’s what you want and not what you think I should want, okay?”

Hartley sniffled and scrubbed at his eyes with his free hand. “Want to sit down?”

Nodding, Barry let Hartley lead him to the couch – still holding hands – where they settled down together. As Barry gently rubbed Hartley’s wrist with his thumb, Hartley poured out what happened with his parents.

“It’s probably for the best I never meet them,” Barry finally said. “I might punch them on instinct.” He was fairly certain that super-sonic punching non-super villains (though Barry was definitely slotting Rachel and Osgood Rathaway into his mental ‘villain’ category anyway) was frowned on and would get him into trouble. Still, the temptation to wreak petty revenge on Hartley’s behalf coiled in the back of Barry head; he wondered, idly, just how much more over-protective he’d feel if he could actually remember anything from this timeline.

At any rate, it was 2016, for crying out loud. ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ had been repealed and gay marriage was legal across the country (had been for a while now), but the Rathaways still thought Hartley should hide what he was out of shame? The more things changed, the more they stayed the same...

There was a faint smile on Hartley’s face for a few seconds, though. Points to Barry.

“Want to watch a movie?” Barry asked.

“Sure.” Hartley smirked when Barry’s stomach growled. “There are some of your power bars in the kitchen.”

Barry grinned, getting up and heading that way. “Thanks.” Glancing around the fairly nice looking kitchen, Barry wondered to himself where he’d be if he were a power bar. He settled on what looked like the pantry and, when he opened it, lo and behold there were power bars inside. Looked like they were the ones that actually tasted like chocolate, too.

He walked back to the couch, already snacking on one of the bars, and flopped back down. Barry glanced over to where Hartley was scowling at his DVD collection like it had personally offended him and smiled in amusement, eyes definitely not looking down at Hartley’s ass at any point.

(Hartley’s butt looked great in slacks, though Barry wondered how he’d look in fitted jeans. The resulting mental image was vivid enough that, blushing, Barry thought for a moment that maybe he was remembering something from the new timeline.)

“Ever seen _Ladyhawke_?” Hartley finally asked, retrieving the movie and turning to set up the PS3.

“Yeah, but it’s been a while. That’s the one where Matthew Broderick is a thief helping the cursed lovers played by Michelle Pfeiffer and… I don’t remember his name, but I know he turned into a wolf in the movie.”

Hartley nodded affirmatively as he settled back onto the couch beside Barry. “Rutger Hauer. Yeah, that’s the one.”

Barry bit his lip nervously, then blurted out, “I’m pretty sure I used to ship the three of their characters together, not just the two who are actually canon.”

“That’s...” Hartley hummed softly. “I never really thought about that but… the three of them really do have good chemistry together, don’t they?” He smiled again, this time for longer than a few seconds. “Head-canon accepted.”

Two smiles now and Hartley’s sniffling from the crying jag he’d had before Barry’s arrival seemed to have faded entirely. More points to Barry. He wouldn’t call it a win, yet. But he was getting there.

* * *

 

Hartley arrived at STAR Labs the next morning and hid in his lab, hoping that no one would bother him. He imagined that, maybe, he could manage to go the whole day without Barry even realizing that he was there.

Despite Barry showing up last night and listening to Hartley’s tale of woe about his parents and getting over-protective (and then staying for the whole movie, successfully getting Hartley to laugh and smile several times), Hartley was convinced that everything would abruptly fall apart at any moment. Barry was now well aware of just what sort of monster Hartley was capable of becoming. Surely he wouldn’t be okay with Hartley working at STAR Labs or seeing him on a day-to-day basis. The night before was a fluke; Barry was just taking pity on Hartley’s clear distress, trying to be nice because Hartley saved him from the time wraith… or maybe just wanting to be sure Hartley wasn’t going to go break all the windows on the Rathaway building again. (Which was so very tempting. Hartley wasn’t going to lie to himself about that.)

Unfortunately, Hartley’s cunning plan to be invisible for the whole day failed spectacularly about ten minutes after he arrived, when Cisco opened the door, checking to see if anyone was there, and walked into the lab when he caught sight of Hartley poking half-heartedly at his pet project.

“So, how did dinner with your parents go?” Cisco asked. “Also, why didn’t we hear about any of this until yesterday?”

“You and Caitlin didn’t hear about it because I didn’t want to say anything and jinx it all and...” Hartley sighed, crossing his arms over his chest in what he knows is a classic defensive pose. “It didn’t go well. Basically, they’re okay with me being gay, but only if I’m okay with hiding it. Which I’m not. So they’re not.”

Cisco did a wonderful impression of a gold-fish, which Hartley kindly did not inform him of, and then sputtered out, “wow, your parents suck.”

“Yeah.” Hartley sat down on one of the roll-y chairs and then asked, “did Barry seem weird to you after his time travel trip yesterday?”

“He seemed a little confused about what we were all doing with the Patro-no, but...”

“Confused about all of us? Or just what I was doing here?” Hartley saw Cisco’s wince and nodded. “So I called Barry last night, after walking out on my parents. Only it was pretty obvious that Barry didn’t actually remember that he was the only one I’d discussed that dinner with beforehand… or that we spent time together socially at all. He remembers the other timeline. The one where there was no ‘future Barry’ who had you replace my hearing aides with the non-explosive variety… the timeline where I blew my way out of the pipeline and probably got a lot farther in my revenge plans than I’m entirely comfortable with.

“I mean… I know I have a habit of self-sabotage, but from an entirely different timeline? This is truly a whole new level of screwing myself over.” Hartley scrubbed his hands through his hair. “I’m going to get fired… again. I just know it.”

The sound Cisco made was not, by any stretch of the imagination, sympathetic. “This is Barry we’re talking about. I bet he went over to your place to check up on you last night anyway -”

“He did, but it was probably just because I drove off the time wraith and he felt like he owed me for it.”

“- after all, think about all the things Captain Cold has done to us and how Barry was still all unsurprised to hear that Snart was off playing time-traveling hero with Stein, Jax, and Ray. He’s a strong believer in the good in people.” Cisco walked over and grabbed the back of Hartley’s chair, rolling him towards the lab doorway. “Now stop hiding in here, sulking, and come help with building the prototype tachyon generator. I don’t want to be stuck alone with Harry any more than I absolutely have to be.” He gave Hartley’s chair a shove at the door, forcing Hartley to stand up and stumble forward a few steps, or risk falling to the floor in a heap.

Hartley turned to glare at him, but Cisco just smirked unrepentantly as he rolled the chair out of view before joining Hartley in the hallway.

“Barry won’t fire you,” Cisco told him confidently. “You’re over-reacting. Now come on. Tachyon generators aren’t going to build themselves.”

“Fine, fine, whatever,” Hartley grumbled, following Cisco down to the cortex.

* * *

When Barry finally showed up late that afternoon, he didn’t seem fazed at all by Hartley’s presence. In fact, he seemed really pleased to see Hartley. If it weren’t for the fact that he knew that Barry’s memories didn’t match up with his own, he might never have guessed that Barry probably remembered getting almost killed by him.

Hartley determinedly ignored Cisco’s ‘I told you so’ looks.


	2. Not Quite Back to Normal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Barry's powers are gone and Jesse is basically the irritating little sister type. But Barry and Hartley manage to finally talk about their feelings so at least some things are working out okay.

Barry didn't know what to say after Zoom left with Caitlin.

Everyone else was panicking - Cisco was already trying to work out some sort of rescue plan - but there wasn't anything Barry could really do or say that would actually contribute anything useful.  Because he'd failed her.  He'd given up his speed to save Wally and now one of his best friends was paying the price.

Part of him wished that Zoom had killed him after all, so that he wouldn't have to live with this crushing guilt in his chest.

Quietly, Barry slunk out of the cortex and headed straight to STAR Labs' small locker room.  He shucked off the Flash suit - never going to have a reason to wear that again when he's not the Flash anymore - and ducked into one of the shower stalls.  Running was always a sweaty business, but he felt worse - felt wrecked - from the way the Speed Force had been dragged from his cells with every step.  He tried to wash the feeling of loss away, but it clung to his skin despite the soap and, eventually, Barry just shut off the water and stood there, feeling cold and broken and useless.

How had he ever fooled himself into thinking he was anything like a hero?

Barry wasn't really sure how long he stood there, but he did end up pushing the shower curtain aside and grabbing the nearest towel to use to dry off once he realized he was shivering from the room's chill air slowly pushing away the leftover heat from the shower.  He went to the locker where he stored spare clothes and pulled on fresh boxers and jeans.  A white cotton shirt was next, but then he balked at the thought of going any further.  Over-shirt, socks, and shoes?  Those things would mean he was ready to face the others and... he wasn't.  Not by a long shot.

So he just settled down onto a bench and sat there, head in his hands.  He felt numb and so, so alone.

Eventually, though, someone came in and sat down beside him and, from the familiar warmth, Barry guessed it was Hartley.

How many times had they sat side by side like this, watching a movie or Netflix or playing video games?  Not on a bench in the locker room, obviously, but at Hartley's apartment or the West family living room?  Maybe sometimes even at Cisco or Caitlin's places, the four of them hanging out together all those times that Barry can only remember there being three instead.  Even without the memories, though, the familiarity lingered.  The emotions remained, perhaps ingrained in a way that survived timeline changes in a way that nothing else could?

Barry lowered his hands to the edges of the bench and gripped it hard enough for corners to press painfully into his palms and fingers.

Hartley reached over and, ever so gently, pried Barry's left hand off the bench and held it.  He didn't say a word the whole time.  He just, carefully, took Barry's hand in his own and soothed away the angry red marks left behind from Barry's desperate grip on the bench.

Without meaning too, Barry's right hand relaxed as well.  He turned, almost helplessly, to fold himself into Hartley's warmth and felt the other man's arms wrap loosely around his shoulders.  Tears began running down Barry's face and he buried his face against Hartley's chest.  Then, as Hartley began to soothingly rub Barry's back (up and down along his spine, softly humming a melody Barry didn't recognize), something just sort of snapped inside him, turning the quiet tears into heaving sobs.

It felt like it took forever for the breakdown to end and all the while Hartley just sat there holding Barry together.

* * *

Harry barely lasted twenty-four hours before deciding to jump ship to find Jesse.  He'd only been putting it off because he'd thought she was safe enough in a world without Zoom, smart enough to land on her feet even without the Wells family resources at her disposal.  But now Zoom could cross between the two Earths whenever he wanted and there was no Flash to stop him.

Honestly, Hartley could understand - even envy - the parental instinct that was leading Harry to have an epic freak out over not knowing where his daughter was or even if she was safe.  But that didn't excuse Harry's knee-jerk, asshole reaction of blaming everyone but himself (and mostly Barry, at that) for their current situation.

Eddie and Iris were utterly furious, arguing with the man over his bullshit, but it wasn't really helping Barry any, who seemed almost to shrink into himself every time Harry reminded him that Barry wasn't the Flash anymore.  But when Harry denied that they'd made their decisions as a team, that was pretty much it for Hartley.  Because they had made those decisions as a team; it had been very democratic of them, really, and just because they hadn't all capitulated to Harry's one dissenting vote didn't invalidate the fact that they'd agreed as a team to trade Barry's speed for Wally's life.

“Fine. Denying your own culpability is what you’re best at,” Hartley spoke up coldly, figuring now was as good a time as any to finally have it out with him over some of Harry's failures of character that had been bothering the hell out of him for months now. “Don’t forget, _Harry_ , if you hadn’t murdered the Turtle – which is what finally made Jesse abandon you in the first damn place – there wouldn’t have been any method for taking Barry’s speed. You screwed up, again, and it bit you on the ass, again, but god forbid you take responsibility for the way your actions keeping fucking other people over.”

“I don’t have to listen to this,” Wells snarled, stalking across the room to start packing a backpack with supplies.

“Why? Because I’m not one of your victims?” Hartley smirked when Wells flinched and then turned to look at him. “Because every meta-human on Earth-2 is a victim. Your victim. You tested the accelerator and when it went wrong, you denied anything ever happened. But the evidence was in the DNA of every person who had their life fundamentally altered by your screw up. How many metas do you think there even are in your world?

“Here, the press usually estimates somewhere between twenty-five and fifty, but it’s probably more like a few hundred. Most people don’t have active powers and, if they’re lucky, they never will. How much do you want to bet that its the same way on your Earth? Now, imagine all those people… maybe some of them think they have strange new medical conditions. Except someone waves a meta-detector app in their face and suddenly they’re being classified as one of those ‘criminal’ metas. Congratulations Doctor Wells. All those victims that you don’t want to acknowledge were hurt by you… had their lives trampled on all over again because of your desire to cash in on the public’s fear. Way to keep re-victimizing people in the name of petty cash.

“How many metas have been backed into a corner and forced to do Zoom’s bidding because they honestly believe they have no other choice? Maybe their family kicked them out for something they didn’t choose to be or perhaps they’ve lost their jobs because being a meta creates a ‘hostile work environment’? How many can’t hide and are too scared to seek help all because of an affliction you caused and prejudice filled environment you helped create? I mean, seriously, did you never even once consider the ethical implications of creating an app solely designed to violate another person’s right to bodily privacy?”

“The public has a right to know...”

“Bullshit.” Hartley shook his head and then sneered, “how exactly does the app keep anyone safe? That was its main selling feature, wasn’t it? That it would help normal humans protect themselves from the scary meta menace? Of course, it only identifies metas; it can't actually do anything if a meta wants to use their powers for nefarious purposes.  Though it probably does get used as justification for violence against metas and if a meta has to use their potentially lethal powers in self-defense then which person ends up looking like the villain? The poor, defenseless, normal human or the super-powered meta?

"All your ‘public’s right to know’ crap is worthless justification for selling an app that makes metas unsafe, that violates their right to privacy, and invites crimes to be perpetrated against them.”

“That isn’t what the app was made for,” Harry retorted, but he wouldn’t meet Hartley’s eyes.

“But that’s what it gets used for. You can’t possibly be so naive as to think otherwise.”

For once, Harry didn’t seem to know what to say. So he changed the subject to how he was going to track down Jesse using the cellular interruptions caused by the fact that humans from Earth-2 vibrated at a different natural frequency than humans from Earth-1.

Barry took Hartley's hand for a moment, thumb rubbing against his wrist, and Hartley felt his frustration drain out of him.  

He waited until Harry had walked out of the room before excusing himself from the cortex, reluctantly leaving behind the warmth of Barry's fingers.  The speedster's... former speedster's hands were always so soft and warm and distractingly long-fingered and dexterous... but Hartley had a phone call to make now and couldn't be making an idiot of himself drowning in the sensation of holding his crush's hand.

Once just out of earshot of the others, Hartley slid out his phone and dialed a number from his contacts.  It rang a few times and then a familiar voice answered with, "Freespace Youth Shelter, Opal City, how may I direct your call?"

"Milla, it's Hartley."

"Checking up on Jesse again?" Milla, and a few other Freespace workers in Opal City, had gotten pretty used to Hartley's weekly checkups to make sure Jesse was doing okay and Jesse was okay with it because Hartley's calls meant she was kept updated on the latest Team Flash issues, as well as whatever stupid thing her father had done or said most recently.  Of course, it all really helped that Hartley was pretty well known as a volunteer at Central City's Freespace shelters, and as a former resident as well.

"More like warning her.  There's been some bad news here that she really ought to know and... her dad's finally tracked her down, so he'll probably be there in a few hours to talk to her."

"Should I warn security?"

"No.  He'll argue with her, but if Jesse tells him to leave then he'll do it.  Harry's many things, but fortunately abusive isn't one of them."

There was a long pause and then... "I just sent a runner to grab Jesse; she's with one of the high school study groups again, teaching their college tutor how he's getting his calculus wrong again."

Hartley snorted in amusement.  "Is she still offending him by being right or has he finally moved on to taking notes?"

"Notes," Milla told him.  "She's signed up to take her GED next week; apparently she feels like she's brushed up on history enough to pass it now."

"She's a bit of a perfectionist; just wait until she tries to take five majors in college like it's totally normal."

"I don't doubt it," Milla agreed.  "Ah, here she is."  There was a shuffling sound as the phone changed hands.

"Hey, Hartley, what's up?  It's a little soon for you to be calling again; did something happen?"

"A lot's happened."  Hartley leaned back against the wall of the hallway and let himself slide down to sit on the floor.  "You might want to get comfortable, because there's been a lot going on in the last few days."  He waited for her to confirm she was alone and seated before telling her about Wally and Barry's speed and Caitlin's kidnapping, following it all up with, "so now your father is freaking out about your safety again and has figured out how to track you via cellular dead zones.  So he's on his way to find you and it's really only a matter of time before he shows up."

Jesse cursed softly and there was a quiet thunking sound followed by another, sharper curse, like she'd banged her head against something harder than intended.  "I know I told you before what all my majors were back on my Earth; is there anything I can do?  Fill in for Caitlin maybe until you guys bring her back?"

Hartley wasn't going to deny the affectionate warmth that filled him at Jesse's immediate belief that they would save Caitlin, just like they'd saved her, even without Barry's speed.  For all that there were times Jesse was very much her father's daughter, her empathy for others despite all the trauma she'd been through was really quite impressive.

"If we do, I'll let you know and come get you myself," Hartley promised.  "But for now, just... keep concentrating on making a life for yourself here.  Milla said you finally signed up for the GED?"  He let Jesse ramble on for a little while about how she felt really confident about the tests now and how she was filling out applications to some of the local colleges with interesting programs and how much she was really enjoying her job at Barnes and Noble.  Someone - sounded like Joe from the footsteps - approached while Hartley was giving the appropriate 'yes, sounds awesome' responses.  He considered moving where Joe wouldn't be able to over hear and then... just shrugged it off.  The others were bound to find out about Jesse eventually.  Might as well be now instead of when Harry came back to yell at him for it.

"It's kind of silly, though, that double or triple majors aren't the norm," Jesse said, abruptly switching back to the topic of college.

Hartley winced slightly, remembering his own double major plans.  "Not necessarily.  I started off with a double major, but between being disowned and figuring out how to navigate the whole being eighteen and homeless thing alone... I was really fortunate my scholarships lasted long enough for me to turn my double major into a major with a minor.  Made me one of the lucky ones; a lot of other LGBT college students who loose financial stability because of their orientation wind up having to drop out altogether.  Of course... a lot of other students just party too much to handle the class load.  So, you know, there's that."

"Oh..." Jesse went quiet for a long moment.  "Thanks for the heads up about Dad. I've got a calculus tutor to finish correcting, so I'll talk with you next week?  Unless something comes up and you need me, because I'm totally there."

Rolling his eyes, Hartley shooed her off the phone and hung up.

"How's Jesse doing?" Joe asked.

"Pretty good.  She's looking forward to getting her GED."  Hartley stood up slowly and stretched the kinks out of his shoulders.  The floor was not the most comfortable place to be sitting.

“Harry probably won’t ever thank you for it, but I’m glad Jesse had you looking out for her,” Joe told him.

Hartley flushed slightly and looked away, knowing that was Joe’s parental instincts talking now. It always made him a little uncomfortable, being around a dad who actually cared about his kids… and his kids’ friends. Even before he’d been disowned, Rachel and Osgood Rathaway had never taken even half as much interest in Hartley’s thoughts, feelings, and well-being as Joe West did with Barry and Iris and now Wally. Even the attention he gave to Cisco, Caitlin, and Hartley dwarfed anything the Rathaway family had ever managed.

"I should... probably go see if Cisco wants any help," Hartley muttered, telling himself that, no, he wasn't fleeing from having to deal with feelings or anything.  Not at all.

* * *

No matter how pissed off Hartley was with Harry, there was no denying that watching the man get into a car 'accident' and then be dragged off unconscious and there being nothing he could do to stop it was kind of horrifying.  So when Barry decided to go observe the scene and collect evidence, Hartley jumped at the chance to drive Barry and make himself feel useful.  And that usefulness lasted right up until they arrived and Hartley was reminded that he didn't know the first thing about the proper procedure for evidence collection.

“Do you think the guy who took Wells is a meta?” Hartley asked, standing out on the road in front of the van, gazing around with a frown on his face as he tried to figure out what could have possibly hit the van to crumple it in the center of the hood.  
  
Barry looked up from where he was gathering evidence from the door that had been ripped off the van. “Maybe. The van had to have hit something capable of exerting equal force back on it, but there’s nothing here to indicate a second vehicle of any kind. Um… how did Jesse sound when you told her what happened?” Because while it turned out Joe hadn't said anything about Hartley keeping tabs on Jesse to the others, it was the first thing Hartley brought up when they snapped out of their shock at the video of Harry's kidnapping.  

“Upset. I mean… I guess that’s obvious, but she had a pretty big argument with him before he left to head back to Central City,” Hartley replied. “So now she’s worried that if something happens to him, the last memory she’ll have of her dad is yelling at him. But despite everything she's really weirdly proud that he didn’t try to use the fact that Caitlin's been kidnapped in an attempt to manipulate her into coming back.”

“So upset, worried, and ambivalent, then” Barry summed up.

“Ah, yes, ambivalence, thy name is ‘complicated relationships with parents’.” Hartley sighed and then turned around to watch Barry take samples off the crushed hood of the car. He glanced appreciatively at the ex-speedster’s ass and then wandered closer to look over Barry’s shoulder. “Is that blood?”

“Supports the meta-human theory,” Barry said in lieu of agreement. He paused a moment and then looked up at Hartley. “Have you heard from your parents since…?”

“I got a call from them the other day, but I let it go to voicemail. I… I haven’t listened to the message yet, so the little voicemail notice won’t go away on my phone. Reminds me every time I look at it that I’m the one avoiding them this time.” Hartley ran a hand through his hair and then looked away. “You know… as much as I hate Harry, I’m ridiculously jealous of Jesse for having him for a dad. Because she could be, like, an ax murderer or whatever and he’d probably say ‘okay, that’s great, do you need any help hiding the bodies or identifying potential victims?’”

Barry snorted softly in amusement.

“But my parents hear I’m gay and suddenly I’m the scum on their shoes that they can’t be rid of fast enough. Is it really too much to ask for them to be proud of me, even a little bit?”

Sealing up the evidence he’d collected, Barry set the bag on top of the crumpled hood. “Hartley...”

“It’s stupid, but I’m jealous of you too, you know? Henry Allen is so proud of you and Joe? If he were any more obvious about how much he loves his kids he’d be carrying around signs proclaiming how awesome he thinks you three are.”

Barry tugged Hartley into a hug. “When you’re ready to listen to that voicemail, let me know. I’ll be right there with you when you hear what they have to say.”

Hartley melted into the embrace. “Thank you,” he muttered, burrowing his nose against Barry’s neck. Then, quietly, “I’m sorry. You traveled back in time to get the speed equations and now it’s all for nothing. All you really got out of it is me and my many issues.”

The arms holding Hartley tightened around him slightly and suddenly Hartley was acutely aware that, while Barry didn’t have a speedster’s strength anymore, Barry was still pretty strong all on his own. “You’ve made losing my speed bearable, Hartley. I wouldn’t call that nothing.” Maybe it was the quiet strength of Barry’s embrace or the gravely tones of Barry’s voice, but Hartley couldn’t quite help the sudden mental image of what it would feel like to be pinned down beneath Barry while he whispered… actually, in that tone of voice Barry could be reading the phone book and Hartley was pretty sure he’d get aroused.

Blushing, Hartley pulled away. “I… that’s, um… we really should be moving on to get Jesse.”

“Right.”

Did Barry sound a little disappointed? Probably not. Just Hartley’s imagination, which was clearly running in overdrive at the moment.

* * *

“So,” Jesse said as she pulled the car door shut, “have you two hooked up yet or are you still doing that really annoying mutual pining thing?”

“You know, I imagine this is what having an embarrassingly irritating little sister would be like,” Hartley muttered, determinedly looking anywhere except Barry – well, mostly keeping his eyes on the road as he pulled out of the teen shelter’s parking lot.

“Mutual pining it is, then,” Jesse sighed over Barry’s stuttering. (The former speedster clearly had no idea what to say in response and was just kind of… adorably flustered into non-responses.)

“Just shut up back there. Please tell me you’re one of those bizarre freaks who can read in the car without getting carsick and… I dunno,” he passed back his phone, “read _His Dark Materials_ or _Protector of the Small_ or just something, anything, as long as you stay quiet.”

“Right, I’ll raid your kindle app and be silent. Also… people get carsick on this Earth?”

“ _I_ get carsick,” Barry muttered, sinking down in the front side passenger seat. “One of the perks of being a speedster was no more motion sickness. It was great. While it lasted, anyway.”

Hartley couldn’t help it. He reached over for a moment and brushed his hand over Barry’s before putting it back on the steering wheel.

“This is gonna be a long car ride if you two keep doing that,” Jesse muttered darkly. “What’s your phone’s unlock code?” she asked in a louder voice.

* * *

Barry's first crush was on Iris.  He couldn't really pinpoint when that crush turned into love, but... honestly, it hadn't really mattered.  Iris never reciprocated - never showed any signs that she'd care for him as anything other than a foster brother - and Barry learned to, mostly, live with that reality.  The times he did attempt to tell her always ended in miserable failure, usually because sweet, kind, oblivious Iris would say something to really drive home and reinforce her platonic feelings for Barry.

Not that Barry didn't try getting over Iris.  There was Chris (man) and Chris (woman) and Jeff and Katie (who turned out to be a very bi-phobic mistake).  But by the time the accelerator particle project was given an activation date, Barry had become pretty much convinced that he'd never really get over her.  Then the nine month coma happened and, when Barry woke up, Iris was so in love with Eddie that even if Barry had stood a chance before, he never would now.  (It didn't help that Barry had a crush on Eddie for a while too.  The guy was just too honest and nice for his own good.)

But somewhere in the last year or so, Barry's fatalistic belief that he'd be spending his whole life pining after Iris had been proven wrong.  He wasn't sure when it happened - probably after the Hurricane Debacle in which he'd nearly screwed up his friendships with Iris and Eddie because he'd mistaken Iris' kiss-that-never-happened as being something more than it really was.  But it definitely occurred before the timeline shift.  It didn't hurt anymore to look at Iris and Eddie together and he didn't think wistfully about their engagement while wishing he was the one Iris was marrying.  (That was a very, very good thing considering he was going to be Iris' Best Man - not Maid of Honor; the first time Cisco made that joke it was funny, but every subsequent usage just made it tired - and thus very involved in all the wedding planning.)

So of course it figured, really, that Barry would finally get over his ridiculously strong romantic feelings for Iris only to fall hard for someone else.

For Hartley.

_"You should know, you’ve had the biggest crush on him for months now."_

_“So, have you two hooked up yet or are you still doing that really annoying mutual pining thing?”_

It's almost like having amnesia.  The memories are gone and the emotions remain.  And those emotions?  Every bit as strong as what he'd felt for Iris.

Worst of all, he's jealous of the 'other' him.  The version of himself who'd gotten to spend all that time with Hartley.  Barry wanted those memories.  He wanted to know when the first time he realized Hartley gave him the warm butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling was or when he'd started spending so much time at Hartley's that it just made sense for him to start keeping some of his power bars - the tasty ones, at that - in Hartley's pantry.  He wanted to know how many times they'd hung out together, what genres of fiction Hartley liked best, what Hartley's favorite color was, if they ever fell asleep on the couch together...

Every time he opened his mouth, though, to say something about how he felt, Barry froze up.  Fear would rush through him and suddenly he'd be asking himself what he really had to offer Hartley, especially having already hurt him once by forgetting their friendship... and had he known that would happen?  Was that why, despite feeling so strongly for Hartley, that other version of him hadn't confessed his feelings already?  Bad enough to have forgotten a friendship; how much more would he have hurt Hartley to have suddenly been clueless about them dating?  To have forgotten their first date and first kiss?

But... what if, once again, he'd fallen hard for someone who'd never return his feelings.  He couldn't go through that again.  Not so soon after finally getting over Iris.

What a brave hero he was.  Not that Barry was a hero anymore.  He wasn't sure what he was without his speed.

After Hartley's decision to completely ignore Jesse's comments about their 'mutual pining' at the start of their return trip to Central City and Barry's inability to do anything but splutter incoherently (he was so embarrassed - why was there never a convenient hole in the ground to swallow him up when he needed one?), Barry hadn't expected Hartley to address the issue at all.  He figured they'd just... pretend it hadn't happened at all.

Nope.  Apparently Hartley thought it should be addressed.  Barry was starting to suspect that Hartley had more courage than he did about certain things.  Like personal feelings.

"Um... look... Barry, about what Jesse said back there," Hartley said nervously, Jesse having run inside of STAR Labs ahead of them.  "I don't... I don't expect you to feel the same way, especially now that you don't really remember how I ended up a part of Team Flash and your friend instead of, you know, being a pain in the ass villain, but... she's right.  I... I have a crush on you.  I mean, you've probably figured that out already because I'm kind of obvious and pathetic, but..."

"You're not pathetic," Barry interrupted, reaching up to cup Hartley's cheek, heart thundering in his chest like he's just run a marathon without his speedster powers.  "Right now, you're braver than I am."

Hartley leaned in and their noses bumped slightly, Barry huffing a soft laugh in response, and then...

"What's taking so... oh!"

They had jumped apart and were now staring wide eyed at Jesse Wells, winner of the day's bad timing award.

"Oh!" she repeated, covering her mouth with one hand.  "Shit.  I'm so, so sorry.  I just... I just ruined the moment didn't I?"

"Rain check on this conversation for later?" Hartley asked Barry, having apparently decided to ignore Jesse for the moment.

"Conversation?  Is that what they're calling it these days?" Jesse muttered cheekily, smirking at them now.

"Rain check," Barry agreed, leaning over to kiss Hartley on the cheek that he'd been touching just moments earlier.

"I'm a horrible person, aren't I?" Jesse asked dryly, holding the door open for the guys.

"You're your father's daughter," Hartley agreed, somehow sounding thoroughly amused and disgruntled all at once.

* * *

"Okay, He-Man's got some power!" Cisco observed as the four of them - Barry, Cisco, Hartley, and Joe - ducked behind some cover.

"And accuracy," Hartley observed.  He'd attempted to deflect Grey's first attack with his gloves, but Joe had shot the barrel on instinct causing an explosion that left Hartley's ears ringing painfully.  He could barely make out Barry's admonition for them to keep Griffin distracted before the former speedster was disappearing into the dark recesses of the warehouse.

"Fine.  Distraction," Hartley muttered, starting to suspect that Barry's hero-complex was contagious.  "I can do that."  He paused and then added, "please don't shoot any more of the barrels he's tossing; I feel half-deaf right now just from that first one."

"Sorry," Joe replied.  "What are you planning?"

"Ever played any of the classic Donkey Kong arcade games and had Jumpman grab the hammer?" Hartley asked with a grin and then, before Cisco or Joe could stop him, Hartley stepped out of their cover and into the open.  "Griffin, you're not the only one who was affected by the accelerator."

"Yeah, you got a sob story you want to share?  Think I'll, what, relate to you and stop what I'm doing?" Well, yes, but obviously that wasn't going to work after all.  Though Hartley wasn't ready to discount the idea of bonding over their mutual dislike of Wells.  Surely that was still on the table.  "I can do this all night!" Grey chucked another barrel at Hartley, but this time he successfully deflected it back at the younger (older?) man; not that it did any damage to him beyond making him stumble a little.  He just picked it back up and tried again.  This time it went flying over Grey's head when Hartley knocked it back.

"I think you're aging prematurely at an increasingly alarming rate.  You say you can keep this up," Hartley deflected another barrel, which this time went sailing harmlessly past Grey on the meta's left. "But that's not true is it?  The more you use your power, the faster you age.  The faster you age, the closer you come to basically killing yourself.  Am I wrong?"

"Doctor Wells is going to fix me.  I'm not giving him up until he's done!"

"So that's a 'not wrong' then."  To Hartley's relief, as he deflected yet another barrel - seriously, did Grey have an endless supply of these things over there? - Barry had popped up behind Griffin and was carefully aiming the pulse rifle at the meta.

Barry took his shot, hitting Grey in the arm as he reached for another barrel to toss.  Snarling in pain, Grey stumbled and then scooped up the barrel, throwing it at Barry instead of Hartley and then running off as the barrel crashed into Barry, knocking him to the ground in a pained heap.

"Barry!" Hartley was sprinting across the warehouse, glancing briefly in the direction Grey had gone, only to find the man had vanished.  He dropped to his knees beside Barry and helped him struggle up into a sitting position.  "Are you okay?"

"I think my ribs are bruised," Barry replied, letting out a pained breath and leaning against Hartley's shoulder.  "Good guess on Grey's aging; he got visibly older after tossing that last barrel at me."

"I'm building you gloves," Hartley muttered.  "It won't be as functional for you since you can't hear the different frequencies like I can, but we'll figure something out."  Then he kissed Barry, quick and hard and hopefully conveying just how damn worried he'd felt when Barry rushed off to play hero.  

Behind them, Joe cleared his throat to get their attention, an amused smile on the older man's face when Hartley glanced back sheepishly.  Hartley sighed to himself in irritation.  Really, what was with people ruining the moment today?

Oh well... Barry did need medical attention for his ribs and... hopefully Joe wasn't about to give Hartley the shovel talk or the 'cleaning the gun while having a friendly chat' talk.  Because Hartley already had no doubt Joe would shoot him if he hurt Barry.  Really didn't need threatening parental talks to get that message across.

* * *

It was probably for the best that Hartley wasn't the one who wrapped up Barry's ribs, though he was disappointed when Jesse was the one who did it anyway.  Barry really wanted to know what it felt like to have Hartley's long, skilled fingers sliding across his skin... and that probably wasn't something he should be fantasizing about at the moment, but it was either that or think about how utterly useless he'd been back at the warehouse.

 Hartley, though... Hartley had been amazing.  

"You know, usually I'm the only one who stares at that suit so intensely... and generally because it does a wonderful job of flaunting your ass."

Barry grinned, blushing, as Hartley walked over to stand beside him.  Hesitantly, Barry reached out to link their hands and then lean against Hartley's shoulder.  His smile faded, though, as his attention returned to the suit.

"So, what are you thinking?" Hartley asked.

"You were amazing back there, at the warehouse."

"I... thanks?  But somehow I don't think that's what's making you stare at the Flash suit like it killed a puppy."

"I just... don't know who I am any more.  I mean... I'm not the Flash now, obviously, but... I'm not the same Barry Allen that got struck by lightning either.  I can't go back to being just a forensic scientist, not when... not when there are people in danger from Zoom.  But... what use am I?"

"You don't have to have super speed to be useful, Barry."  Hartley let go of Barry's hand and, tentatively, put his arm around Barry's shoulder's instead.  "The Speed Force isn't what made you a hero.  That's just you.  You do stupid, reckless, brave things all the time.  You give people hope.  You gave me hope.  So... even if the Flash is gone, that identity was never more important than Barry Allen.  If... that makes any sense whatsoever."

"It kinda does," Barry murmured, smiling again and letting himself enjoy Hartley's proximity.  "What's your favorite color?"

"Green."

"Probably should've guessed that."

"You know," Hartley began, nervous again, "we should probably talk about... this.  Us."

"Us?  You mean, about how you kissed me earlier?  And how we were about to kiss before Jesse interrupted us in the parking lot?  And how really comfortable this," he leaned a little harder against Hartley for a moment, "is right now?"

"Yeah, all of that.  I just... I wasn't being presumptuous, was I?  Kissing you at the warehouse?"

"No, that... that was really good.  You should know, I've got a crush on you too," Barry said quietly.  "Came back from the timeline change and you were just... there, saving my life.  I haven't felt that flustered since... since you made that crack about men in head-to-toe leather carrying you off being a fantasy of yours, actually."

"It's a fantasy that has only gotten stronger over time," Hartley muttered, blushing.

"Good to know," Barry replied, a wicked grin on his face.  "It's probably only fair that I share one of my fantasy's, right?"

"Y-yes?" Hartley stammered.

Humming delightedly to himself, Barry turned to stand in front of Hartley, hands sliding to Hartley's waist.  Tugging the other man closer, Barry kissed him, nibbling Hartley's lower lip for a moment before pulling back to enjoy the faintly confused expression on Hartley's face... along with growing look of desire in his eyes.  Then, Barry maneuvered them around in order to shove Hartley's back up against the glass in front of the Flash suit and slide his hands up Hartley's chest to press against his shoulders, pulling Hartley into a demanding kiss that had the other man whining against his mouth.

Barry might not remember every fantasy he'd had about Hartley in this timeline, but this... kissing Hartley right here in the middle of everything Barry associated the most with being the Flash... with being the most confident version of himself... he'd been wanting to do that since showing up to try out the tachyon accelerator only to realize that Hartley worked here.  Barry had wanted to shove Hartley up against the wall then and there, but... well Cisco and Harry really wouldn't have appreciated that.  At all.

"I like this fantasy," Hartley muttered when they finally had to pull apart.  Then he let out a whimper as Barry's mouth started kissing a trail down the column of his neck, the back of his head thunking back against the wall.  "It's... I... I actually kind of like the whole... manhandling thing."

"Really?  Very, very good to know."  Barry leaned up into another kiss.

"The Flash suit is not a sex toy.  Oh my god, I never thought I'd have to say that.  But there you go.  It's been said.  It can't be unsaid."

Reluctantly, Barry pulled away from Hartley to glower at Cisco... and Jesse who was standing next to him.

"Killjoy," Hartley muttered shakily.

"You two are going to be Ronnie and Caitlin all over again, aren't you?  Just when I thought it was safe to walk into STAR Labs without finding a horny couple necking in the cortex."  Cisco rolled his eyes expressively.  But he was smiling despite his complaints... so Barry was going to take a wild guess and say that Cisco was actually happy for them.

"So, we think we have a partial solution for outlasting Grey in a fight," Jesse cut in.  "Heard of dwarf star alloy?"

"It's... what power's Ray's ATOM suit, right?" Barry asked, sharing a look with Hartley.

"It's also the strongest known metal on the planet," Hartley chimed in.  "Which... if you're going with this where I think you're going with it, then... Ray didn't leave us nearly enough to actually protect Barry from more than one punch.  Two if he's really lucky.  So I don't think I like where this plan is headed."

"Barry may not be the fastest man alive anymore, but he's still quick enough to dodge the punches of a rapidly aging man," Jesse protested, which... way to make Barry feel better about himself. Hartley had a point when he called Jesse her father's daughter. Especially at moments like this.  "We're going to reinforce the chest area of the suit so that it'll absorb the kinetic energy... kind of like kevlar for punches."

"But Hartley's right.  It will probably only withstand just one punch and the second you'll... be kind of like a pinata, but instead of candy... you, well... your... um..."

"We get it, Ramon," Hartley cut him off, grimacing.  "Could've done without that particular mental image, thanks."  He sighed quietly.  "It's up to you, Barry.  What do you think?"

The idea of putting on the suit... of being the Flash without having his speed... it terrifies Barry.  But... he thinks maybe he needs this.  Needs to see for himself if Hartley was right and that it isn't his speed that made him a hero.  "Let's do it."

* * *

When the day ends, Griffin Grey is dead.  He looks like a kid again and Barry doesn't really feel like a hero.  But, if he's honest, he never does when the person he's fighting dies.

But Barry does feel like he knows who he is again.  So he calls that a win and curls up in Hartley's arms during the van ride back to STAR Labs, listening to the steady beat of his boyfriend's heart and wondering if Hartley was doing the same with him.

Back at the Lab, Barry doesn't feel like he has to rush to be free of the Flash suit and ends up talking to Joe about Wally while wearing it... and comes to a decision.  "I want to tell Wally the truth.  I trust him, Joe, and keeping him in the dark does literally nothing to keep him safe at this point.  He deserves to know the real reason why Zoom targeted him and why I gave up my speed for him.  Because he's family."

Joe ended up agreeing, reluctantly, and Barry changed into his normal clothes.  He snagged the voice modulator Oliver gave him, just in case someone on Team Flash who couldn't vibrate their vocal cords needed to disguise their voice.  (Cisco ended up taking it apart and putting it back together, only to make a second one that made him sound like a Goa'uld.  He swore it was a totally legitimate scientific project, and then sneaked off to use it at sci-fi conventions.  No one was even remotely surprised by this.)  Then made his way to the top of Jitters which was, by this point, pretty much a Flash tradition when it came to talking with members of the West family who didn't know his secret identity (which was probably why Iris insisted on it when Barry called to tell her what he was planning).

Then he just... waited for Wally to show up.

"Relax.  He'll be here," Joe promised, walking out onto the roof with Wally.

"What should I say? I... I don't even know where to start."  Wally was starting to sound a little panicked as it set in that this was really happening.  He was going to be talking to the Flash.

"Just be honest.  Speak from the heart.  Besides... it turns out he has something he wants to tell you too."

"Really?!" Wally actually squeaked.  "Oh, god, he does hate me, doesn't he?"

Barry figured that was probably his cue to speak up before his foster brother freaked himself out any more than necessary.  "Wally West."  The voice changer was very different from the Flash voice Barry was used to.  He grinned wryly, remembering how Joe had cracked up when he'd explained how he'd improvised the vibrating voice thing in order to keep Iris from figuring out the Flash's secret identity.

It really had been pretty funny.

"I'll see you downstairs," Joe said, patting Wally's shoulder encouraging before heading back inside.

"You wanted to see me?" Barry asked, knowing he was obscured enough in the dark that, though Wally could tell he wasn't wearing the suit, he couldn't make out his identity.  Not yet, anyway.

"I... uh, yes.  I did.  I mean, I do."  Wally took a few seconds to regroup.  "I just... I wanted to thank you for saving my life.  I know that came at a huge price for you and... I don't know how I'll ever repay that.  I guess... what I wanted to say was that I'm not gonna waste this chance you've given me."

"Do you know why Zoom took you?" Barry asked, curious just how much Wally knew.

"Um... because Dad's your friend?"

"It was because you're family.  My family," Barry told him, taking off the modulator so that Wally could hear his real voice.

Wally was completely silent for a long moment and then... "Barry?"

"Hi Wally," Barry said, walking into view and then hopping down to the landing.

"You're... you're the Flash."

"Yeah."

"You're the Flash," Wally repeated, sounding dazed.  "I thought... I mean... you were never there when there was danger and then the Flash would show up and... I'm an idiot."

"Maybe a little oblivious, but it took Iris forever to catch on too, so... don't feel too bad?" Barry shrugged and settled on to one of the lighted benches, waving Wally over to join him.

"You didn't tell Iris from the start?  She did not take that well did she?" Wally asked, sitting down beside him.

"No.  There was much groveling and baked goods offered to regain her good graces.  Not just from me, but from Joe - who was the one pushing the rest of us not to tell her - and from Eddie who, as it so happens, is a terrible liar and acts like he has a super guilty conscience when hiding other people's secrets from Iris.  He was the one forgiven first which... given how much he acted like a kicked puppy? I completely understood.  Joe, however, pouted.  He'll never admit it, but he was definitely pouting."

Wally laughed and then shook his head.  "I was such a jerk to you.  Why would you...?"

"Well, you weren't really expecting having to share your father and sister with me, were you?  I was just... the foster kid who was taking your spot."

"That's not... well... okay, yeah, that is how I felt.  Like... they didn't need me.  They had you."  Wally pursed his lips for a moment, in thought.  "I guess I still don't get it."

"I was scared too," Barry admitted.  "I mean... I haven't always appreciated how much Joe has done for me.  Whenever we'd argue over whether my dad really was guilty of killing my mom or not, I would say some really awful things to him.  It took me a long time to stop resenting having him as my guardian instead of my dad and... accept that it was okay to be happy as a part of the West family without it somehow being disrespectful to my parents.  Joe's as much a father to me as my dad... really, he's more of a father to me than my dad at this point and then you came along.  His real son.  I thought... maybe I didn't really belong there anymore and was trying to find a way to get out of the way without being obvious about it and... Joe just knew what was bothering me."

"He said exactly what you needed to hear?" Wally asked.  "'Cause I've noticed he's weirdly good at that."

"He really is," Barry agreed.

They sat there quietly for a long moment and then...

"So, I just found out my brother is, like, the coolest person in Central City.  What's new with you?"

Barry grinned at Wally and laughed.  "Hartley and I are dating now."

"About damn time."

* * *

"You were right."

Hartley frowned at his jacket, which he'd just taken off an draped over his chair in his lab, having arrived a little early intending to brainstorm ideas for taking on Zoom with Barry and Cisco.  There were a few things left from his time spent planning to take down Barry that might help at least slow Zoom down - had actually successfully done so once, by invoking temporary paralysis on him via sound waves, though that hadn't stopped Zoom for long and Barry's back had been broken anyway.  But maybe if they could slow him down long enough they could... plant something on him to steal his speed?

It was worth looking into anyway.

But the person pestering him at this very moment was not Barry (truly most unfortunate) or even Cisco.  No.  It was Harry.

"Excuse me?"  Hartley turned to look at the man in the doorway.  "I'm right about a lot of things.  You're going to have to be more specific."

"You were right that I've been running away from my responsibility for the metas of my Earth.  That I've, in fact, been making things worse for them."

"And...?" Hartley wished Wells would just get to the point.

"Grey kidnapped me because he thought I was the Harrison Wells of this Earth.  I know he was talking about someone else, but... with what you were telling me before I left to find Jesse... I really haven't paid for what I've done.  I thought... saving Jesse, closing the breaches... that would be enough.  That this Earth was safe and I'd be done.  But it's not enough.  Not even close.  I have a plan, to get Allen's speed back."

Hartley had a bad feeling about this.  "How exactly do you intend to pull that off?"

"By recreating the particle accelerator explosion."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Iris was not kidding about Barry being super obvious about his crush. Even Wally could see it and he is season two's poster child for obliviousness. And poor Cisco. It's always awkward to walk in on people making out and, much as he misses Ronnie, he'd thought those days were finally over. Nope, Barry and Hartley are now filling that slot.
> 
> So... I'm one of those annoying people who can read in the car. Made car trips as a kid really quite nice; my sister, who does get carsick, would take the middle seating area of the van while I'd get the whole back bench to myself. I'd prop myself up on one side of the bench with pillows, put my feet up on the other side, and read books. This was actually what led to me discovering Tamora Pierce's novels, as I ran out of books to read on one car trip and convinced my parents to let me check out a second hand book store near the gas station they were refueling that car at. I left with two books from "The Circle Opens" quartet and a Star Trek novel.


	3. (Start) Running

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A combination of episodes 2x20 (Rupture) and 2x21 (The Runaway Dinosaur) - In which the second Particle Accelerator experiment seems to have failed and Hartley... does not react well. (No zombie Girder though. Sorry.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm making the Speed Force a little more direct and congenial, because this version of Barry didn't travel back in time to save his mother during Season 1 (which is why Eddie is alive) and thus hasn't annoyed it as much as canon Barry had. There's a deleted scene from Season 1 where Henry gives Barry his reasoning as to why Barry shouldn't time travel to save Nora - why, in fact, Nora probably wouldn't have wanted Barry to do so - and... imagine that Barry had actually listened to him, okay?
> 
> Also, I like to think that each 'person' that Barry encounters in the Speed Force represents a different aspect of the Speed Force and so each one refers to themselves a little differently, and relates to Barry differently as well. Though the scene with Speed Force!Joe would happen pretty much the same, so I just glossed over it.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

"Where's Barry?"

Breathe in.

"He... this wasn't... this wasn't supposed to happen..."

Breathe out.

"Where the fuck is he, Harry?!"

Breathe in...

"He's gone, Rathaway.  He's... gone."

Breathe out...

There was something... something important that he'd come here to say.

Breathe in...

What was it again?

Breathe out...

"Jesse?"

That was it... wasn't it?  That was what he'd come here to tell them.

"She left the time vault."

"What!"

"Jesse and Wally were ahead of me in the hallway when the Dark Matter from the accelerator passed through.  It knocked them out and dissipated.  I got Wally to wake up, but Jesse... she's still unconscious.  The others are looking after her and..."

And the rest was obvious.

Barry wasn't in the machine or running around, bright smile, so glad to have his speed back...

Barry was gone...

"Hartley... Hartley, sweetie, I need you to look at me, okay?  You need to calm down.  You're having a panic attack and you'll pass out if you don't stop hyperventilating...  Yeah, that's it.  Breathe in... breathe out...  I'm going to move Hartley into the hallway.  Eddie, could you find where the Gatorade went to?  I think there's a case hiding in the cortex somewhere... Okay.  Now, look at me, sweetie, and just keep breathing with me, okay?"

How could anything ever be okay again?

* * *

_**Two Days Earlier** _

For a moment, it isn't Harry standing in front of Hartley.

It's Wells.  Telling him how STAR Labs is going to be a perfect fit for Hartley.  How they're going to change the world, make it a better place for everyone.  Terrifying Hartley all the more for not raising his voice once while explaining to Hartley how fucked he is for having ethics and bringing safety concerns up the proper chain.  Implying various horrible deaths should Hartley give up his secrets and there being no way to escape the pipeline now...

Suddenly everything is too loud and too much and Hartley feels like he can't breathe.  His hands ball up into fists and...

He breathes out.

"Get out of my lab."  Hartley has no idea why his voice sounds calm and even because he's anything but.  He feels like he's on the verge of a panic attack.

"Rathaway," Harry said, frowning in what almost looked like concern.

It actually freaks Hartley out even more, makes the struggle to separate out Harrison Wells from Eobard Thawne that much harder.  "Harry, if you don't get out of my lab right now, I will probably hit you.  So get the hell out of my lab."  Now Hartley's voice is shaking a little but, for once, Harry listens.

He waits until Harry's footsteps are distant enough that they almost blend into the white noise of the server room next door and then collapsed into his chair.  Hartley buried his face in his hands and struggled to calm down and just breathe normally.

Half an hour later, when Cisco and Barry finally arrive, Hartley still feels like a mess and it's with great reluctance that he tells them what happened.

Just the bare facts, though.  Harry wanted to recreate the particle accelerator experiment in miniature to give Barry back his powers.

"Do you think it's possible?" Barry asked.  He tried to sound neutral, but there was a spark in Barry's eyes that he couldn't quite hide.  Losing his speed had been traumatic - pretty much on par with losing a limb or a sense - and it was no wonder he'd want to be a speedster again... and that was without even taking Barry's hero complex and need to defeat Zoom into account.

"The original experiment was literally designed to fail," Hartley replied quietly.  "Wells... Eobard... he deleted everything I put together - all the evidence..." Hartley closed his eyes and shakily scrubbed a hand over his face.  "All the information I had on what was, specifically, wrong with the accelerator is gone; I didn't save any copies externally, because..." because he'd trusted Wells.  "I can remember some of it in generalities, but... there were a lot of deliberate flaws.  Miniaturizing the project should eliminate some of those issues, but it'll create new ones and the whole thing has to be absolutely perfect... and it'd still be more likely to just kill you than give you back your powers."

"Okay, so its a bad plan."  Barry's hands on Hartley's shoulders helped ground him and he opened his eyes only to find himself gazing steadily into Barry's.  "Are you okay?"

"Not really," Hartley admitted.  He still felt shaky and the idea of facing Harry any time soon?  It made him want to crawl under a rock.

"Sometimes Harry will do or say something that reminds me so much of Wells that I have to walk out of the room before I hit him or something," Cisco offered wryly.  "I know in my head it isn't his fault.  He's not the man who betrayed us - hell, he's not even really the doppelganger of that man, because Eobard Thawne murdered the real Harrison Wells long before any of us even knew he existed, much less met him.  But I still... I just have trouble keeping them separate.  It's been getting easier, the longer he's around, but..." he shrugged sheepishly.

"So it's not just me?" Hartley felt a little relieved.  

"Nope.  Anyway, I had an idea that, well... it won't help us with Zoom, but it might give people some hope back," Cisco said, finally changing the subject back to the brainstorming session they'd originally agreed on.

But... Hartley had seen the look in Barry's eyes when he'd asked if it were possible to gt his speed back.  It had dimmed some, but it was still there.  The idea was sitting in the back of Barry's head now and it wasn't going away.

Shit.

* * *

_**Present** _

Barry's eyes opened and, for a moment, he had no idea where he was.  The last thing he remembered was... pain.  He'd been flooded with pain, feeling like he was being ripped apart from the inside out and thinking...

Hartley.

Oh, god, Hartley.  Barry had been so grateful that Hartley hadn't been there to see him die like that.  After Hartley's warnings, all but begging Barry to try something else - anything else - and Barry had gone and gotten himself killed trusting in Harry anyway...

Blinking in confusion, Barry sat up.  Because he wasn't dead - clearly - but he wasn't at STAR Labs either.  He was... in his old room.  Exactly as he remembered it, the night his mother... the night Nora Allen died.  There was the fish tank with the very fish he'd bought with his dad just a few weeks before.  He could see the small divot in the wall, worn in from the door knob thwacking that spot time and again after the door stop broke.  The clothes hanging in the closet were familiar - he vividly remembered packing them up to move to Joe's place using his parent's suitcase set... and finding some of his mother's things still in one of the zippered compartments, forgotten for months since their last vacation.  A necklace she'd been searching for, her favorite hairband...

Barry dragged his mind away from the memory and stood up.  At least he was still present him, even if everything around him had been dragged up from the past.  Maybe he'd time traveled somehow?

That... that would suck.  He'd have to figure out how to make a life for himself - money first, fake ID second (though, being a CSI, he did actually know a lot about the fake ID manufacturing process, so that was a plus), and somewhere in there finding a place to live?  Had Freespace been founded yet?  Because, if Hartley was to be believed and Barry had no doubts there, Freespace was supposed to be the best place to go if you were homeless, broke, and needed help getting on your feet.  None of the other local shelters even came close.

Because - and Barry kept checking - he didn't have his speed back.  He couldn't go back home to his time period.  Couldn't go back to help stop Zoom or be with the versions of his friends and family who needed him.  Couldn't tell Hartley how sorry he was for worrying him... though at least he might be able to make Hartley's life easier for him after his parents disowned him.  Though how to befriend Hartley without coming off as a creepy older man, Barry had no idea.  (Maybe just contriving a way for the Barry who belonged in this time period to befriend Hartley early might be enough.  Something to think on, anyway.  Also, were the Time Wraiths going to be coming after him now or would they leave him alone since his time traveling certainly wasn't intentional?  Because he basically had no way to deal with them if they did choose to attack.)

Sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed, Barry stood and then looked himself over.  The Flash suit was gone, replaced by a button down shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes.  In fact, Barry thought it might be the very same outfit he'd changed into after losing his speed to Zoom.

It felt like forever since losing his speed, but it had only been a few days.

He opened the bedroom door and walked out.  Down the familiar hallway to the stairs, half expecting to see his mother's body in the living room below.  Instead... instead he saw Joe standing there, dressed as he had been the night of Barry's mother's death.

"Hello Barry."

That ruled out time travel, at least.  Though, what was Joe doing back in his old uniform?

"Joe?  What's going on?"

Naturally, that was when things got weirder.  Because it wasn't really Joe standing there.  It was the Speed Force.

* * *

_**Two Days Earlier** _

"Is Rathaway alright?"

Barry glances over at Harry and then nods.  "Considering that the two things that hurt him the most the last three years are Harrison Wells and the particle accelerator," Barry started, trailing off in well hidden satisfaction when Harry actually winced.

"I know, I know, I had an idea and I wanted to share it and if there were a third thing on that list I'd have probably managed to hit a perfect trifecta of things that trigger Hartley Rathaway.  I was actually trying to apologize to him too.  So much for that."  Harry sounded surprisingly sincere.  "Jesse and I are working on setting up the accelerator," Harry added, after a moment.

"I'm not going to do it," Barry told him sharply, shoving down on the loud part of himself that desperately wanted his speed back.  He felt like he was missing a part of himself and had to keep reminding himself that, no, he can't do 'x' now because no speed.  No speeding up his perception of time to rant at Harry for being an ass - not that Harry'd listen anyway.  No more catching coffee cups that fall off the table.  No more 'speed runs' to Jitters (according to Cisco, the baristas were getting worried because the Flash wasn't stopping by anymore, which was sweet of them).  In fact, no visits to Jitters at all since losing his powers because the idea of seeing the name 'The Flash' up on the board next to cup sizes and pricing still seemed too painful, for all that he could put on the suit without turning into a mess.

"You'll change your mind," Harry responded confidently.  "This holographic system you're rigging up, it's a stop gap measure at best.  It won't stop Zoom and it won't save Snow."

"The last time the accelerator got used, it was what opened up the portals to your Earth in the first place," Barry reminded him.  "Nothing good comes from that thing."

"The Flash came from it," Wells countered softly, avoiding Barry's gaze now.  "I've studied what went wrong with my accelerator and compared it to the data collected from this one.  I know how to fix it - I've actually been working on it off and on for months when I couldn't sleep.  Just... something to do to keep my hands busy and my mind off of Jesse."

Barry nodded slowly, understanding where Harry was coming from, but... "there's a lot we just don't know about what happened that night."

"I've studied the data your Wells compiled.  What chemicals you were exposed to, how the lightning bonded with the dark matter... he was quite thorough and, with that data, I know I can make this work."

He wanted to say yes.  But Barry's eyes strayed over to Hartley.

_"... it'd still be more likely to just kill you than give you back your powers."_

"Talk Hartley and Cisco through it."  Barry finally said.  "If they both agree that you've covered all your bases, I will consider it.  But even then, I'll only be considering it as a last resort."

Harry grimaced and then nodded reluctantly.  "Think you can make sure Rathaway doesn't hit me in the middle of a flashback to the other Wells?"

* * *

_**Present** _

Hartley blinked and realized, rather numbly, that he was focusing again.  There was a half-empty bottle of Gatorade in front of his feet and he was sitting on the ground with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, Iris to one side of him and Eddie to the other.  He could hear someone - Cisco and... Harry - in the breach room where... Hartley's thoughts stuttered for a moment.  Then, taking a shuddering breath, he pushed past it.

The breach room.  Where Barry... died.

"Any word on how Jesse is doing?" Hartley asked softly.

The couple bracketing him jumped in surprise.  Eddie, however, recovered first.

"Dr. Allen is looking after her.  But she hasn't woken yet.  It's too soon to be sure, but... it looks like a coma.  Like..."

"Like the same kind of coma Barry was in after..." Hartley trailed off.

Iris, however, just nodded.  "Yeah.  It looks pretty much the same."

Which meant, of course, that the chemicals had nothing to do with bonding the lightning to Barry in the first place.  Harry had been wrong... they'd all been wrong.  And there was no telling if Eobard Thawne had it wrong too or if he'd simply written up a bunch of logical sounding false assumptions because he could hardly record the truth.

"What about Wally?  He woke up, but he was knocked out by the dark matter wave at first."

"Henry is checking him over now," Iris answered.  "But he doesn't think it affected Wally."

"How are you feeling?" Eddie asked.

"Like I have no good answer for that right now," he replied, a little sharper than intended.  Hartley sighed and then stood up, pulling the blanket off and folding it around his arms awkwardly.  Then he stared balefully at the breach room doorway.  After a long moment, he walked as close as he dared - still feeling numb and on the edge of checking back out - and then called Cisco's name.

"You're up!"  Cisco popped out into the hallway.  "We didn't want to move you yet so you could, you know, have a chance to snap out of it on your own... which, obviously, you did..." he shoved an errant lock of hair behind his left ear, not meeting Hartley's eyes.

"Cisco... this isn't your fault."  It was Hartley's, for not being able to convince Barry not to do it.  It was Harry's, for being an arrogant asshole who thought he could do no wrong.  It was Barry's, for getting in that damned machine in the first place.

"If I had refused to help..."

"Then he'd have gotten someone else to summon the lightning."

"I suppose."

They stood there, awkwardly, for a long moment and then... "Cisco, about your powers..." but Hartley's question was cut off as Cisco's eyes widened.

"My powers... hold on a sec," the engineer whirled around and darted back into the room.

Hartley took a step forward and then immediately had to move back, feeling dizzy and nauseous and... yeah, it was still too soon to be close to that room without being equally close to a panic attack.  Eddie caught Hartley's arm, steadying him while Iris reminded him to breathe normally.  "Sorry," Hartley muttered.  Everyone else loved Barry too and they weren't reacting like he was.  He knew, rationally, that it was because he already had a lot of abandonment issues that he'd never really worked through, that all the stress they'd been under lately was exacerbating his issues - and that if they didn't all have some form of PTSD at this point, Hartley would eat his gloves - and that he was just generally more predisposed to react badly... hell, he'd told Harry that if he fucked up and lost Barry, Hartley probably wouldn't be of any use to anyone after that point... but he still felt ashamed of himself for being so weak.

(Barry would have told him it wasn't weakness, would've kissed his cheek and soothed his fears, would've... but Barry was gone - Barry was dead - and that was the whole problem.)

"There's nothing to apologize for," Iris told him.  "I can't stand the thought of going back in there either."

"Holy shit!" Cisco's voice sounded almost gleeful.

"Ramon, what did you do?" Harry demanded from within the room.

"I saw him!"  Cisco replied.  "I vibed the suit and I saw Barry!"

"What?!" Hartley realized, after a moment, that had probably actually sounded pretty funny coming from him, Iris, and Eddie all at once.

Cisco ran to the doorway, face flushed with excitement.  "I saw Barry. He was surrounded by what looked like a storm on all sides... or a vortex maybe?  But it was definitely him.  I'm not sure he was seeing what I was seeing, either, given the way he was reacting, but... Barry's alive."  Pausing for a second, Cisco gathered his thoughts and then said, "I think he's in the Speed Force."

"Barry's alive?" Hartley asked in a small voice.

"Barry's alive," Cisco confirmed, clapping a hand on Hartley's shoulder.  "We're going to get him back."

* * *

_**One Day Earlier** _

Hartley slid his gloves into his messenger bag and then pulled the strap over his left shoulder and head.  "For the last time, Cisco, your visions tend to show danger and since you don't know how to trigger your offensive capabilities yet, much less control them, I'm tagging along.  If, say, one of Zoom's metas shows up to try and kidnap your brother to use him against you, wouldn't you rather have backup that can hear the second something goes wrong?  Dante doesn't even have to know I'm there."

Scrunching up his face in annoyance, Cisco huffed a sigh and then, finally, nodded in agreement.  "Yes.  That would be good to have.  It's just... Dante and I don't really get along and... I'd rather not an audience to this."

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm really not in a position to judge anyone else for their screwed up family dynamics," Hartley drawled.

"Nope.  Mostly it just reminds me that your parents are horrible people and I hope I never meet them in person."  Cisco shrugged and smiled ruefully.  "Honestly, if Caitlin were here I'd probably be just as uncomfortable with her coming along, especially after I dragged her along to Dante's birthday party last year."

Hartley just raised an eyebrow Spock-style and waited patiently.

"Fine, fine, come along," Cisco huffed, but he looked a little amused.

"Good.  I let Barry take my car to go see his dad, so... mind letting me ride shotgun?"

Cisco rolled his eyes, but now he was smiling too.  "Right.  Come on, then."  They headed out in a mostly companionable silence and Hartley hopped into the passenger side of the STAR Labs van without comment.

It was Cisco who broke the silence.  "Are you okay?  After spending most of the day going over Harry's accelerator plan?  'Cause, honestly, I'm not sure I am."

"I really, really want to break his nose," Hartley muttered petulantly, smiling when Cisco laughed.

"I know what you mean."  He breathed out.  "Still think it'll kill Barry?"

"Yes."

"Me too."  Cisco fidgeted as he drove them out of the parking lot and then said, "I have this theory about... about my powers.  But... I'm not sure how useful the theory is because I still can't figure out how to use my powers offensively.  I mean, I'd think it would feel similar to how I can open breaches between realities, but I've been trying to recreate Reverb's attack abilities and... nothing."

"What's your theory?" Hartley interrupted, before Cisco could babble too far away from what he'd opened with.

"Reverb attempted to match his attacks to Barry's vibrational constant to try and kill him on Earth-2."

"I'd have more luck pulling that off with my gloves," Hartley muttered, side-eyeing Cisco.  Normally Hartley would say that Ramon didn't really have it in him to kill anyone, but if Zoom hurt Caitlin, or traumatized her too much, before they got her back... then all bets were off.

"That's not..." Cisco huffed a breath, pulling to a stop at the light.  "What if it were possible to match the vibrational constant of the Speed Force itself?  Stop Zoom in his tracks by canceling out his powers."

"It... it would have to be a sustained attack until someone else... I dunno, shot him."  Hartley turned the idea over in his head.  If Cisco's powers did work the way he thought they did, then... Cisco might be on to something after all.

"Harry's the one who made Zoom in the first place," Cisco muttered.  "I think he should be the one to shoot him."

"Also, he's a sniper," Hartley agreed.  "Of course, the problem with this scenario is the same reason why I'm tagging along now."

"My offensive abilities won't work."  

"Right."  They were quiet a while longer, as Cisco continued to guide them towards the bar where he'd arranged to meet up with Dante when he'd called earlier after his vision.  "Maybe it's a mental block," Hartley offered.  "I mean, you found out that you had the ability to throw vibrations because you watched an evil version of yourself try to kill your best friend with them... all while that evil version of you was trying to pull a Darth Vader."

"I'm not like Reverb," Cisco grumbled.

"No, you're not," Hartley agreed easily.  "But that doesn't mean you aren't afraid of being like him anyway."

"I guess that's fair enough."  Cisco tapped out some melody Hartley didn't recognize on the wheel.  "So how do I even work past something like that?"

"Not a clue.  My armchair psychiatry only goes so far and I start charging after the first hour."

* * *

"There she is."  

Apparently no one had ever taught Dante that misgendering someone, even if that person wasn't trans, was a dick move.

"Still refuse to dress like a grownup, I see."

Though, at least now Hartley knew why his cracks about Cisco's dress sense had hit the engineer so hard.  Now he kinda felt bad about it.

"One grape soda," Dante ordered mockingly while, embarrassed and annoyed, Cisco refused.

Hartley walked in on the other side of the bar and settled down.  Unlike Cisco, he ordered a soda (Coke, because Pepsi always tasted flat to him), and then checked his watch impatiently.  Anyone paying attention to him would, hopefully, assume he was meeting someone here.

"So, what's wrong?"

"What?  There has to be something wrong for me to want to catch up with my brother?"

"Yeah, that's usually the way it works with you, isn't it?"  Dante toyed with his empty beer glass.

"I just had this... feeling that I should catch up with you.  Make sure everything's alright."

"What?  Snart and his pyro friend gonna kidnap me again?"

"Us," Cisco snapped.  "You.  Me.  Us.  They kidnapped both of us, Dante."

"Yeah, well, you're not the one who almost had his hands frozen off. Lucky I can still play the piano."

Hartley pulled out his cell phone and started checking his emails.  He could practically hear Cisco's flinch at the accusation in Dante's tone.  He picked up his drink absently when it arrived, glad that he'd basically perfected the art of eavesdropping across a room without looking like he was eavesdropping across the room.  It was how he'd figured out that Wells didn't need his wheelchair - though his atypical physical reactions to being paralyzed had been what made him pay more attention in the first place - and learned the Flash's identity before ever even going after Barry.  (Honestly, they all needed to be more concerned about what they said in public, no matter how private they thought their conversations were.  Hartley wasn't necessarily the only person with super hearing, after all; just the only one they knew about.)

"My octaves haven't quite been the same, not that it matters to you."

"Dante, I called you, more than once, but, of course, you didn't answer... or return my calls.  I'm surprised you actually even answered this time, much less agreed to meet with me."  Cisco's words dripped with pain and frustration; no wonder he sympathized with Hartley's family issues so much.

"Considering that you kept redialing, I wasn't sure I had a choice," Dante snapped back.

"I guess it was pretty stupid of me to hope that experience might actually bring us closer, give us the common ground to fix what's wrong between us."

"Don't fool yourself, Cisco.  We haven't been close since we were kids."

They sat quietly again, while Dante ordered another beer and then drank around maybe half of it.  Hartley finished his soda and his emails and then checked the time again.  

"Can you put the Diamonds game on?"

"Ah, sports. All right, well, this was fun. Um...good hang."  Cisco started getting up and gathering his stuff, which Hartley took as his cue to do the same, pulling out a few dollars to cover the over-priced soda.

"Whoa. Wait. Gonna take care of that, right?"  Hartley glanced up to see the incredulous expression that adorned Cisco's face while Dante gestured to his bill. "Dude, you invited me," the elder Ramon sported a smirk as he spoke.

"Unbelievable."  But Cisco shelled out the money anyway, rather than get into an argument.

"Get stood up?" The bartender asked Hartley sympathetically, snapping his attention away from the bickering Ramons.

"Sort of," he replied, heading outside.  He started towards where Cisco had parked the car, only to duck out of the way when he heard the sound of Dante following Cisco out of the bar.

"Hey, wait!"  Dante was calling after his brother. "Yo! I need a lift home."

There was someone else in the parking lot and Hartley started edging around the cars in the lot to get a better look at the guy.

"You still don't have a car?"

It was probably nothing.  Creepy, lurky guy was probably just having a smoke before heading inside the bar for a drink and Hartley was overly paranoid.

"Some of us don't have a fleet of company cars at our disposal." When Cisco didn't respond, Dante added in exasperation, "dude, it's on the way."

Cisco didn't get a chance to respond, though, because something exploded, knocking them both into the street.

The guy Hartley was looking at was clearly not headed to the bar for a drink because this guy was holding a glowing scythe.  Hartley frowned and fought the urge to roll his eyes; who did this guy think he was?  The Grim Reaper?

"Hello, Vibe." Came a distorted voice... but Hartley froze in shock because he recognized the voice underneath.

"Hey, simmer down, Reaper.  We've got no beef with you," Cisco tried, clearly freaked out at hearing a clearly violent meta call him Vibe.

"Maybe not, but I've got beef with you, Vibe," came the growling voice again.

"Why does he keep calling you that?" Dante hissed and, yeah, there was no denying it.

The Reaper, or whatever he called himself, was Dante.  Reverb's brother.  And, for all that Reverb was an asshole with a god-complex, he'd apparently managed to have a better relationship with his brother than Cisco had with his own.

Hartley decided it would probably be for the best to keep that observation to himself.

While Dante 2.0 went for the dramatic reveal, Hartley edged around behind him, pulled on his gloves, and then primed them, smiling grimly at the high pitched noise they emitted to let him know what frequency they were on.  He ran his fingers through the motions to adjust the frequency to something a little stronger then what he used for target practice and, just as the alternate Dante pulled his mask off, Hartley let out a piercing whistle to get the Earth-2 meta's attention.

"Just so you know, Zoom lied to you about your brother," Hartley informed him and then held up his hands, splaying his fingers to emit a blast that knocked Dante 2.0 to the ground.  "You're a moron for believing him."  He hit the guy with another attack, sending him skidding across the parking lot, away from the Ramon brothers.  "Not, of course, that anyone intelligent would sign up to be Zoom's errand boy in the first place.  You two alright?" he asked, moving to stand between the brothers and their attacker.

"Fine," Cisco muttered, scrambling to his feet.  "Dante?"

"Why does he keep calling you Vibe?" Dante repeated, getting up and sounding dazed.  "Why does he look like me?!  Why does he think you killed his brother?  You... you didn't, did you?"

"Of course not," Cisco responded, offended.

"Save the questions for later," Hartley snapped as Dante 2.0 clambered back to his feet as well.  "Get in the van."

"Hartley..."

"Get in the damn car, Cisco.  Unless you think you're gonna be useful fighting this guy?"

Cisco did as told, getting into the drivers seat while Dante stole Hartley's spot in the front.  Hartley waited until they'd pulled out of the parking spot, knocking the scythe wielding maniac out of the way with his gloves again - this time throwing him into a car and clearly injuring him, if his slower movements and favoring of his right arm were any indication - and then got into the back, yanking the door shut as Cisco ignored the speed limit in getting them the hell out of there.

"I knew there was something wrong. Every time I see you, we get attacked by lunatics with crazy weapons!" Dante accused hysterically.  "And... and you!  Who the hell are you?"

"Considering I just saved your life, I'd think you'd try to be just a little more polite," Hartley responded sharply.  "But I realize that's expecting too much of you, considering how shitty you treat your brother."

"Hartley," Cisco snapped and the blond subsided.

"Hartley Rathaway," he said instead, making it clear he was introducing himself and bringing his tone down a few notches.

"Rathaway... as in _the_ Rathaways?"

Taking a deep breath, Hartley counted down from ten and then breathed out slowly before deactivating his gloves and pulling them off.  He finally responded to Dante as he put on his seat belt.  "You're really good at knowing just what not to say, aren't you?"

* * *

_**Present** _

The blur - whatever it was - that Barry was following led him to the Rathaway building.  It was weird to be jogging through an empty version of Central City (especially since Barry was pretty sure that it was a condensed version since a lot of the streets had met up at intersections that didn't exist and the distance between his old home and downtown where the Rathaway building stood was a lot further than he'd just run).  There were cars parked everywhere, but not a single one driving on the road.  No pedestrians on the sidewalks...

It was like Barry was alone in a Twilight Zone episode, really, which wasn't too far off from the truth.

But it was pretty clear that the Rathaway building was Barry's intended destination because, when he arrived, Hartley was standing there waiting for him.  Or, at least, the Speed Force disguised as Hartley.

"Trying to set me at ease again?" Barry asked, panting for breath.

Hartley - or not-Hartley, rather - was sitting on a bench at the bus stop nearest the building.  "Have a seat, Barry.  You're always on your feet."

Barry did as he was bid, feeling uncomfortable and thoroughly not at all at ease near the facsimile of his boyfriend.  "I can't even imagine what Hartley's going through right now," he told the Speed Force.  "He thinks I'm dead, you know.  They all do.  Everyone I love and care for is in danger."

"Hartley put you in danger when you two first met," the Speed Force observed.  He looked over his shoulder and Barry couldn't help but follow his gaze.

A hazy view of the past appeared, showing Barry as the Flash standing off against Hartley, the blond's identity barely concealed from the police surrounding him.  It hurt to look back and remember how self-destructive Hartley had been compared to how he was now.  "He's changed a lot."

"Because you changed history.  A happy accident."

"I don't regret it," Barry told the Speed Force.  "I regret breaking the rules, I suppose, though I didn't know there were rules to even be broken until the Time Wraiths showed up... but I don't regret that I ended up changing Hartley's life for the better."

"Was it really, though?" Not-Hartley asked.  "He wasn't enough of a nuisance for Thawne to care about; so he was still alive and well when you altered history.  Yes, he'd fled Central City for Dakota City and was still living homeless, but he knows how to navigate that life and he was safe from Zoom's notice.  He wouldn't be grieving for you right now."

"Did he have friends in Dakota City?  Was he happy there?"  Was the Speed Force trying to tell Barry that he'd ruined Hartley's life after all, putting him in Zoom's path?

"Perhaps.  Perhaps not.  Though we do think that, overall, Hartley himself would chose the life he's had with you over the one where he tried to kill you.  Not just because he's in love with you either."

"Why are you keeping me here?" Barry finally asked, looking away as the images from the past faded.

"You were given a rare and precious gift, Barry, and you rejected it."

"I gave up my powers to save Wally's life," Barry objected.  "I'd have given up anything to save Wally... and then I nearly killed myself to try and get that power back.  How is that me rejecting you?"

"Perhaps reject was a poor choice of words," not-Hartley allowed, standing up and offering Barry a hand.  "What we meant is that you can't seem to conceive why you have this gift and so... you have trouble accepting it."

Barry let the Speed Force pull him to his feet.  "Why me?  Why... why am I a speedster when you give the same gifts to people like Zoom?"  And, there it was, the fear that maybe, somehow, he was like Zoom and Eobard Thawne.

"Would you walk with me?"

Barry nodded, pushing down on his frustration, and let the Speed Force lead him on a leisurely stroll down the street... and into a nearby graveyard that Barry knew actually belonged on the opposite side of Central City.

"You received your connection to the Speed Force because you're the Flash, Barry.  You were already the Flash when you were eleven years old, on the night your mother died when, even as a child, you wanted to protect her.  That... desire to save others.  That makes you the Flash.  Not your speed or your connection to us.  I think your Hartley tried to tell you this already."

"Yeah... he did."

Not-Hartley chuckled in wry amusement.  "He's a smart guy.  We like how he makes you smile.  Much better for you than that Patty girl."

"Are... are you really commenting on my dating choices?"

"Maybe."  Not-Hartley smiled slyly.  "Could be that our current form makes us biased."

Barry couldn't help it; he smiled in amusement.  It faded after a moment, though.  "What about Zoom and Thawne?"

"What about them?"

"If you chose me because I was already the Flash then why..."

The Speed Force shook its head.  "Barry, we are not human and our reasoning isn't always going to make sense to you.  We gave you your speed because you were already the Flash and the Flash... is necessary, but also... beautiful.  But that has nothing to do with Zoom or Thawne.  You have such difficulty letting go.  It must be a human thing."  Not-Hartley smiled wryly.  "Humans are strange and understanding your motivations has been difficult.

"That's probably why we did not anticipate Zoom discovering how to utilize time remnants as he has, killing himself to avoid notice of the Wraiths."

"... so having traveling to the past but not intending to merge with my previous self... that's what drew the Wraiths to me?"  Barry asked carefully.

Not-Hartley nodded.  "The Wraith that initially followed you when you made your trip into last year was looking for Zoom."

"How has he managed to evade them for so long?  Without Hartley..."

"You would be worse than dead," the Speed Force agreed.  Then he came to a stop in front of a head stone.

Harrison Wells.  Or at least... it looked like the name Harrison Wells, but there was something almost like a shadow beneath it.

"You lost something because of your time travel, though it was because of that traveling that you ever even had it to begin with.  You might find some of it here, though."

Frowning, Barry leaned down and touched the headstone and...

_"Eobard Thawne wasted so much of his life living in the past that... he never got to have a future.  He doesn't even have his own identity anymore.  Not really.  I know this opportunity is important to you and if you do save your mother, I can understand why you'd chose that, but... don't get so caught up in fixing the past that you forget to live your own life, okay Barry?  I feel like... if that happened, you'd be letting Thawne win after all."_

Barry jerked back, stumbling over his feet.  The Speed Force caught him, though, and helped him stand back up.

"What was that?"  Barry demanded, breathless.  That voice had been Hartley's - felt like Hartley's in a way the Speed Force's avatar did not.

"A lost memory of a timeline forgotten.  But these memories lingered in your heart."  The Speed Force gestured to the right where there were two hazy, unrecognizable figures standing together by a headstone.  "You'll find more over there."

"Is that what I need in order to go back home?"

"No.  But it's something you've desired greatly recently."  Not-Hartley made a shooing motion and then faded away.

"Right... I'll just go check over there then," Barry sighed, walking over to the hazy figures.  He'd hoped that they'd become clearer upon arrival, but they stood there like dark shadows, still unrecognizable, when he approached.  He checked out the headstone they appeared to be looking at, hoping that it wouldn't be Wells' name yet again.

Jerrie Rathaway.  The epitaph on the headstone read 'Beloved Daughter 1996 - 2004'.

Barry took a step back, away from the headstone, too shocked to pay attention to where he was stepping... and merged with one of the shadows.

The world seemed to tilt and then...

_"What was she like?"_

_Hartley leaned down and arranged the flowers he'd brought in front of the gave.  "She was brilliant.  Smarter even than me; she'd already skipped two grades and I was sure she'd skip another.  But unlike me, she was really good at fitting in with her classmates and keeping hold of friends.  She was... this bright ray of happiness and I loved spending time with her.  The house was so empty after..." he trailed off with a sigh.  "I'd been debating coming out to her when she died.  So I never go the chance.  But I think... I think she'd have accepted me."_

_"What happened?  I mean... if you don't mind telling me.  If you'd rather not, I..."_

_"Car accident," Hartley interrupted, standing up and brushing the dirt off the knees of his pants.  "She was on her way home from school; classes had just gone back into session after three snow days in a row and... a car slid on a patch of ice just outside the school zone.  Skidded out into the intersection and... it was ruled an accidental death."_

_Barry reached over and took Hartley's hand, giving it a squeeze.  "I'm so sorry."_

_"It's been too long since I was last here.  I guess... maybe I've been avoiding her.  She'd never have approved of what I had planned to do to you and Wells."   They stood there in an oddly companionable silence for a long moment.  "Didn't Joe say your mother was buried here?  Would you like to visit while we're here?  Or do we not have time for that?"_

_"There's... there's time.  I mean, it's not like Wells even knows you're still in town and he'd never think to look for you with me or here or..."_

_Hartley squeezed Barry's hand and said, gently, "you're babbling.  What's wrong?"_

_"I've... kind of been avoiding her too."_

_"Why?  Barry... you're a hero.  The kind of son any mother would be proud of."_

_"I've been idolizing her murderer for years," Barry retorted.  "Some son.  Besides," he cut off Hartley's attempt to reply and pulled his hand back in order to cross his arms defensively over his chest, "I always felt like it was somehow my fault she was dead.  Now I know it really was.  Wells killed her because he couldn't get to me.  Because the future version of me that was fighting him saved me instead of her.  Why would I do that?  Why would I leave her and save myself?" his voice choked off and he looked away wishing he'd made something up instead.  He'd never intended to share that painful question with anyone, but here he was blurting it out in front of Hartley like an idiot... and on the verge of crying too._

_But instead of belittling Barry, Hartley pulled him into a hug."You saved yourself because its what she would have wanted," Hartley told him.  "Good parents always pick their kids lives over their own.  That's how parenting is supposed to work.  I may not have known her, but I know you and if she was anything like you at all... then I think she'd understand about Wells and be proud of you anyway, because when you found out the truth, you didn't look away or try to pretend it was all lies.  Besides... you're not responsible for other people's bad decisions, Barry.  You are not responsible for your mother's death.  Wells is and he's the only person you should be blaming."  He let Barry go and blushed slightly.  "Sorry.  That was too familiar of me, wasn't it?"_

_"No."  Barry shook his head and sniffled, but... he felt better and he offered Hartley a tentative smile.  "I needed that.  Thanks Hartley."  He plucked nervously at the hem of his shirt for a moment and then said, "if you really don't mind then I think... I think I would like to visit my mom's grave while we're here."_

Barry jolted out of the memory and wiped at his face, unsurprised to find his cheeks wet with tears.  The memory had eased a weight off of Barry's shoulders that he hadn't even realized he'd been carrying.  Hartley had been right.  Nora Allen would have wanted her son to live and have a happy, full life.  The same thing that Henry Allen had always wanted for Barry and had always feared he was throwing away, chasing the impossible dream of clearing Henry's name.

When he'd chosen not to take Wells up on his offer of time traveling to save his mother, Barry had done so because of what his dad had said about what his mother would have wanted.  After all, Henry had known her best and if anyone had the right to say, definitively, whether Barry ought to alter history to save her... but Barry imagined that Hartley's words on this day might've made the choice not to go easier.

The blur sped past the grave stones.  Barry smiled grimly and gave chase.

* * *

_**One Day Earlier** _

Barry felt like he'd stopped breathing when Zoom killed every cop in Jitters, save for Joe and Singh.  But then Zoom started choking Captain Singh and... Barry was running out of the van.  Out of safety to where he was probably about to get himself killed.

But he couldn't just...

"Stop it!  You've made your point!"

The speedster turned to look at Barry, still holding Captain Singh by the neck.  "Not quite yet."  He dropped Singh to the ground then slammed a vibrating arm into Rupture's chest and then dropping the dying man carelessly in front of the cameras.

It had to be deliberate.  Zoom was taunting Cisco.

"You were an even bigger disappointment than your brother."

Barry's hands curled into fists and his eyes cast downward at the nearest dead cop on the floor.  Daniel.  His name was Daniel.  He'd been showing off pictures of his son's science fair project - a blue ribbon winner - to anyone who'd look just a few days earlier.

Now he was dead.

"People of Central City," Zoom intoned, picking up the dead reporter's camera and swinging it around to point at his own face.  "The Flash that has been running around your streets is a fake.  A hologram meant to give you hope.  But there is no more Flash... there is no more hope.  There is no one left to protect you from me."  Tossing the camera aside, Zoom turned to Captain Singh.  "I told you what would happen if you disobeyed.  Tell the rest of your force that their services are no longer needed.  As for you," he turned his gaze on Barry, "you're only alive because of Caitlin.  Try something like this again and my affection for her won't stop me from killing that piper of yours... as a lesson."

There was a certain amount of clarity that came from being this angry, Barry supposed.  Because he knew now that he had to try to get his speed back.  Knew it with every fiber of his being.  Because Zoom couldn't be allowed to continue.  There couldn't be any more dead parents on his conscience.

He couldn't let Zoom anywhere near Hartley.

Barry just hoped Hartley would forgive him.

* * *

_**Present** _

Arms crossed over his chest, Hartley leaned against the wall and watched Jesse sleep.  Her heart rate - for now - was slow and steady.  Like she could wake up any second and be just fine.

Harry sat beside his daughter, watching her with a blank expression.  Off to the side, Henry and Joe were talking quietly; Hartley was trying to tune them out, but that was easier said than done.

"You have Iris and Wally, Joe.  But Barry's all I have."

Hartley understood the sentiment well.

_"I don't want you to do this.  I want to be selfish and get you to promise not to.  But the problem is... I understand why you feel like you need to.  Why Harry's been pushing this option so hard.  Because we need something that will put Zoom in check and having a speedster is looking more and more like the only option.  He can shake off sonic weaponry meant to paralyze; Cisco's suppressors couldn't hold you, never mind Zoom... and... please shut me up so I'll stop trying to talk myself into being okay with this because I'm not..." Hartley's mouth was suddenly occupied by Barry's.  When the other man pulled away, Hartley tried to bury himself against Barry's chest.  "I keep losing things.  I'm afraid that if I lose you, there'll be nothing worthwhile left of me."_

_"You won't lose me."_

He hoped Barry still intended to keep that promise.  "Cisco doesn't always understand what he sees in his visions, but he's never wrong about them either," Hartley spoke up, earning the attention of Barry's fathers.  "Which mean's Barry really is still alive.  All we have to do is reach him."

"How, exactly, do you expect us to pull that off, Rathaway?" Harry asked.

"Cisco can open up breaches between realities.  Why not into the Speed Force?"

"I can do what now?" Cisco asked warily, walking into the room with Eddie.  (Iris had taken Wally with her to get breakfast for everyone, so Eddie had volunteered to wander the 'spooky' morgue with Cisco.)  He handed off a jump drive to Henry and gave Hartley a suspicious look.  "Dude, what are you volunteering me for this time?"

"Weird science, what else?" Hartley replied immediately.  "Do you think you could use your vision of Barry in the Speed Force to open up a breach to where he is?"

"Like... using the vision as the breach equivalent of a GPS location?"  Cisco hummed thoughtfully to himself.  "Maybe?  I mean... there's a lot I don't know about my abilities yet, but it... it sounds doable."

Hartley wondered if that was Cisco's instincts talking or if he was just hoping for a miracle like the rest of them.  "Harry," Hartley said, tone surprisingly even, "what do you think?"

"I think..." Harry reached over and took Jesse's lax hand in his, rubbing his thumb over his daughter's knuckles.  He sighed and then set her hand back, standing up.  "We're going to need to head back to the breach room for Barry's suit and the supplies we need to build a device capable of helping Cisco focus his abilities."  Harry looked down at Jesse and then, hesitantly, at Henry.

"Your daughter is in good hands with me," Dr. Allen promised.  "Bring my son back home."

"Right."  Harry looked between Hartley and Cisco.  "Think you can go back in there, Rathaway?"

Shrugging, Hartley tried not to dwell too much on the fact that just thinking about the breach room (and the absence of Barry in that room) made him feel panicky.  "I guess we'll find out."  He paused and then said, "give me a minute to catch up with you, okay?"

Harry nodded and swept out of the room, Cisco barely a step behind him.  Joe, awkwardly, made an excuse to duck out with Eddie, leaving Hartley alone with Henry for the first time since Barry had returned with his dad in tow.

"Are you sure you're alright to go in there?" Henry asked, logging in to Caitlin's computer in order to start pouring over Barry's records.  "I'm sorry I didn't..."

"Jesse needed you more and Iris had things pretty well in hand," Hartley told him, walking over to take a seat next to him.  "Are you..." his hands plucked nervously at the hem of his shirt.  "Are you okay with me?  Dating Barry?"

Henry glanced away from the screen to offer Hartley a reassuring smile.  "When Barry was sixteen, he came to visit me and I could tell right away something was bothering him.  I'm sure you've noticed how he has this way of babbling around a subject so much that you can start to get an idea of what it is he's not saying?"

Hartley nodded, smiling fondly to himself.  "It'd be annoying if it weren't so endearing instead."

"I finally had to interrupt him in order to reassure him that, no matter what, I would always love him and be proud of him.  So he told me he had a crush on a guy.  But he still had his crush on Iris too and he was really confused.  I ended up discussing the Kinsey scale with him."  Henry laughed a little at the memory.  "The next time I saw him, he called himself bisexual and he was so proud to have found a label that felt right for himself.  He'd come out to Joe and Iris too and he just seemed so happy, unburdened.

"I may not have been around much since getting out of jail, but Barry and I have talked a lot.  Called a lot.  He'd talk about you more than anyone else, always sounding so much lighter the moment your name would come up."  Henry looked back at Hartley again.  "I may not know you well, Hartley.  But I know the most important thing about you.  You make my son so very happy."

"He makes me feel the same way," Hartley replied, blinking hard because he wasn't going to cry.  "I should..." he swallowed hard and stood up.  "I should probably go make sure Cisco doesn't maim Harry.  Or the other way around."

* * *

"Is this safe?"

"Define safe."

"Safe as in, if this fails we won't have accidentally short-circuited Cisco's brain," Hartley cut in, stepping through the doorway into the breach room and determinedly not looking over at the machine - it really did look like the Vacuum - as Cisco and Harry messed with it.

"It's a simple feedback loop, all right?"  Harry came around to his computer, while Hartley gazed up at the screen that was already starting to map Cisco's current brain functions.  "When you vibe on Barry, your brain waves send me the necessary data to pinpoint whatever dimensional pocket or corner of the universe that Barry is stuck in. And then we electrically stimulate your prefrontal cortex while opening a breach, which gives you physical access to Barry and lets you be the beacon to guide him home. Perfectly safe."

"I'm sorry. Did you say electrically stimulate?"

"I'm here to make sure he doesn't accidentally fry your brain," Hartley attempted to reassure him.  When Cisco did not look particularly reassured, Hartley added, "if he does, I promise that he'll suffer the same fate shortly afterwards."

Cisco snorted in amusement and then sighed.  "Yeah, fine.  Let's do this.  I did promise we'd get Barry back, after all."  He touched the piece of Barry's suit in front of him.  Immediately, the map of Cisco's brain lit up with activity, parts of his brain interacting in ways that Hartley couldn't even hope to understand.  If only Caitlin were here...

"I wish Snow were here," Harry muttered, unknowingly echoing Hartley's thoughts.

"Me too."

Harry flipped a switch and then... there was a roaring noise and Hartley nearly fell to his knees at the sudden _pain pain pain_ of the storm in the room shrieking in his ears.

"Shit!"  Harry grabbed Hartley's shoulders and pulled him out of the room.  The sound was more tolerable in the hall, but not by much.  "Are you..."

Hartley waved him off.  "Keep an eye on Cisco's vitals.  You've got five minutes before I'm going back in there to turn it off for you."  Not that Hartley was sure he could actually do that, so... added incentive.  "Cisco's the only person other than Barry who stands a chance of putting Zoom in check.  But that's only if he lives long enough to learn to use his offensive powers."

"This... this isn't just about stopping Zoom.  Not anymore."  Harry went back in the breach room while Hartley, rather uselessly, covered his ears.

Funny thing was... he thought he could almost hear, underneath the sound of the storm and the lightning, the sound of Cisco calling Barry's name.

* * *

_**Hours Earlier** _

Barry had made it sound so logical at the time.  Zoom had threatened Hartley specifically and he'd already targeted Wally and Jesse.  So the three of them would hang out in the time vault while Barry got his speed back, just to be sure that Zoom didn't come after them when he saw the storm and the lightning and realized what they were up to.

Hartley had suspected that, really, Barry just didn't want Hartley to see him in pain from the accelerator.  Didn't want Hartley's last memory of him to be of his death, if things didn't work out.

It didn't stop Hartley from feeling like he was making a terrible mistake as the door to the time vault slid shut.

"So, here's a question," Jesse spoke up.  "What if we need to use the bathroom?"

"Don't you know the car trip rules?" Hartley gave her an arch look.  "You're supposed to go before the door closes because otherwise you might get stuck with a particularly gross gas station bathroom."

Wally snickered.  "So, Hartley, you and Barry now huh?"

"Oooh, yeah, I get to take credit for that," Jesse declared, grinning.

"Only if you're also taking credit for being the annoying little sister I never asked for," Hartley mused.

"You'd be an excellent big brother."  Jesse grinned at him and... Hartley was suddenly, viscerally reminded that Jesse was just barely younger than his sister would be if she hadn't...

"I was an excellent big brother," Hartley corrected, finding a box to sit on.  "My little sister, Jerrie, died when I was fifteen.  She'd be... about twenty this year."

"I'm so sorry," Jesse said at the same moment that Wally asked, "what was she like?"

"She was..." the lights flickered and he frowned.  "What the..."  The lights flickered again and Hartley marched to the back of the room, calling up the futuristic computer and demanding, "Gideon, what's going on?"

"The particle accelerator has been activated," Gideon replied, the AI's floating head appearing to the 'oohs' and 'aahs' of the two behind him.

"Is it supposed to be affecting the power in the time vault like this?"  The lights shuddered again and Gideon's display burst with static.

"Even with shielding, it's impossible to completely block the effects of the accelerator due to the high concentrations of Dark Matter," Gideon informed him primly, once her display stabilized.  "However, having scanned the current setup, the odds of more than negligible amounts of energy escaping containment are low.  Though the vault is experiencing some minor feedback, I assure you Mr. Rathaway, that you and Miss Wells and Mr. West are perfectly safe in here."

"Um... hi?  Who are you?" Wally asked, sounding fascinated.

"I am Gideon, an artificial intelligence developed by Barry Allen in the year..."

"That's enough for now, thank you Gideon."  Hartley shut down the AI again.  "Barry hasn't actually made her yet.  Apparently the Reverse Flash is going to steal her and bring her back in time with him.  But we've been keeping her shut down because she's able to track timelines - future timelines."

"So couldn't she tell us how to stop Zoom?" Jesse asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"We did ask.  She isn't programmed with that information.  She can track headlines and information off the internet - so I could probably find out if the _Sherlock/His Dark Materials_ fanfiction I've been following is ever going to update, but..." Hartley shrugged.  "She doesn't track 'the future' just 'probable futures' and even then, only the data generated in those timelines, not the actual events.  Since we didn't want to wind up so obsessed with the future, or the past, that we ended up forgetting to live in the present like the Reverse Flash did, we decided to only consult Gideon for emergencies or when it came specifically to the functions of the time vault.  Otherwise we'd be constantly scrutinizing wedding announcements and obituaries and then... what if you started dating someone because you thought you'd end up married to them and not because you actually liked them for themselves?  Following a life scripted out by someone else running probabilities for you instead of just making your own choices?"

The lights flickered again and Wally headed to the part of the wall where the control panel for the door was hidden.  "Well, right now, I choose not to be stuck in here.  I know Dad and Barry and the rest of them just want us safe, but what do we want?"

What Hartley wanted was... to be with Barry.  Even if things went badly; he wanted to be there for Barry.

Why the hell had he agreed to come in here in the first place?

"Dammit..." Hartley walked over to try and access the panel... and nothing happened.  He frowned and crossed back to Gideon, trying to activate her again.  Nothing happened.  He tried again, panic gathering in his chest.

This time, Gideon flickered on.  "Sensing a build up of energy from the Speed Force... it's..." she disappeared for a long moment.  "... havoc with timelines..."

"Gideon, open the door."

Nothing happened, other than Gideon switching herself back off, probably to protect herself.  Hartley cursed under his breath again, this time running through a few different languages before turning back to the door.  "Right.  So we need to pry that panel off."

It didn't take them long to do just that and, as Hartley and Wally set aside the heavy wall piece, Jesse started poking around in the wall.  "Aha!" she crowed, "there's the door's control circuit.  Now if I just..." she yelped in pain as the wiring shocked her, even as the door slid open.

"Are you okay?" Wally asked, all concern.

Jesse blushed.  "Just a shock," she told him, a little breathless.

"I'm starting to think the real reason they wanted me here was so that you two would have a chaperone," Hartley stage-whispered.

"Shut up," Jesse told him.

"So... breach room?" Wally asked.  Getting nods from the other two, Wally took off at a run, Jesse beside him.  But Hartley paused a moment, taking another look back at Gideon's control console.  Something was playing havoc with the time lines... a build up of energy from the Speed Force... Hartley had the sick feeling that they'd forgotten to take something into account with their calculations for the accelerator.  Then, not wanting to let the two teens get too far ahead of him, Hartley also took off at a run.

* * *

_**Present** _

_"It's alright, you know.  To be scared and not okay, that is.  Not that..." Hartley waved his hand towards the chair.  Wells' chair.  The chair everyone expected Barry to sit in now that he could sit up safely._

_Because Barry was paralyzed.  Temporarily, anyway, until his spine healed and he would be expected to be up and running again._

_"I can't do this," Barry said, voice breaking a little.  "Everyone expects me to heal physically and then... that's it.  I can be the Flash again.  But... I'm not... I can't..."_

_"You're scared," Hartley filled in.  "After what you've gone through, it is okay to not want to go out and be the Flash again."  He held up a hand to quiet Barry.  "Seriously.  You're just one guy, Barry, and you're stuck doing the hard part alone.  You get hurt all the time, but never like this.  Don't... don't let any of us push you into something you're not ready for."_

_"What if I'm never ready to be the Flash again?"_

_"Then we'll figure something else out," Hartley promised unhesitatingly.  "Though I figure the first time you notice a kid's cat get stuck in a tree or pet dog run off the leash... you won't be able to resist being the hero they need to stop their tears."_

_Barry snorted softly.  "That's a little different from facing Zoom again.  I thought... I thought I could handle anything after the Reverse Flash."  Barry closed his eyes and shook his head.  He'd been so stupid.  "Don't tell me.  There's always someone better."_

_"He isn't better than you, Barry.  I bet that's why he hates you; he'll never be better than you."  Hartley's fierce insistence warmed Barry and, without meaning to, he smiled._

Barry blinked, suddenly standing alone in STAR Labs... or the Speed Force facsimile of it, anyway.  The blur - which Barry had a theory about by now - had led him here through a trail of memories.  All of them about Hartley.  While Barry couldn't say he remembered everything now, he treasured the memories he did have now.  Hartley had helped him through so much.  Held him as he broke down over Ronnie's death - the start of a trend, it seemed - and gently chided him afterwards for blaming himself for Ronnie's decisions.  Ronnie was his own person and he knew the risks; Hartley had no doubt that protecting Caitlin, and the rest of Central City's residents, had been far more important to Ronnie than his own, personal safety.

When Barry had started helping rebuild the city at night, Hartley had been the first to bring it up.  Mostly just making sure Barry was still getting enough sleep, which Barry promised he was... and then quietly reduced his after hours workload so that what he'd told Hartley wouldn't be a lie.

In the erased timeline where Vandal Savage won, he'd seen Hartley killed in front of him.  Barry hadn't intended to tell anyone except Oliver about the time travel, but he'd acted so strangely around Hartley that the other man had dragged him away from the others and demanded an explanation.  Hartley hadn't been expecting the sudden hug attack in the slightest and Barry... Barry had realized as he clung tightly to Hartley that, somewhere along the way, he'd started falling for this man.  But what would happen when he traveled back in time to the day he first met Hartley?  How much would change?  Would Hartley remember any of this... would Barry?

There were little moments Barry could remember now too.  Snarky off hand comments.  Arguments over everything from trivial things to big decisions.  Falling asleep on the couch together (at Hartley's, at Joe's, at Cisco's...) playing Tales games or watching a show or...

The blur sped by Barry again and he jogged after it, down through STAR Lab's familiar corridors and away from the cortex... all the way to the breach room.  Unsurprisingly, the blur was gone again.  But this time there were no hazy after-images that promised the return of a missing memory.

Instead, there stood Barry's mother.  "Mom?"

"I'm sorry, Barry," the woman said.  "Though I couldn't be prouder of you than if I were her."

Right.  Of course.  "The Speed Force again."

"That's correct, Barry."  She smiled and Barry's heart ached a little to see it.

He'd forgotten what his mother's smiles looked like, it had been so long.

"All those memories you've found, they're already very precious to you, aren't they?" Nora asked.

"Because Hartley's precious to me."

"You are who you are now because you altered the timeline.  You didn't just change him; you changed yourself.  When you came back from changing the timeline... you felt different, didn't you?  You felt emotions you had no explanation for."

Barry swallowed nervously.  "Yes."

"You are who you are because of the experiences you've lived, even if you can't remember them.  The more drastically you change the time line, the more drastically you change yourself.  The Barry Allen who left to get the speed formula from Eobard Thawne could not have loved the Hartley Rathaway who lived in that timeline any more than he could have loved that Barry Allen.  Time travel runs the risk of making you a stranger to yourself, of costing you the people you know and love by turning them into different people or even erasing them altogether.  But can you accept that in order to be this version of you, Nora Allen cannot be saved?"

He remembered agonizing over the decision of whether or not to take Eobard up on his offer to save his mother.  In one timeline it was his father's words that decided him, but he'd regretted the choice afterwards, wishing that he'd tried anyway.  In another timeline, it was still his father's words that decided him, but it was Hartley's words that made Barry certain he'd made the right choice.

The same decision, but two very different reactions.  Barry thought that, maybe, he did understand what the Speed Force was trying to tell him.

"There are always going to be times when I wish I could change the direction my life has gone in.  Regrets are part of being human.  But not letting those regrets define me... that's the kind of person I want to be.  Hartley helps me with that."

The Speed Force smiled gently.  "If I could protect you from what's to come, I would.  I want you to know that.  But I also needed to know you'd be strong enough to carry the burden and... I think, perhaps, you just might be."

The blur returned and, finally, stood still in front of Barry.  He smiled, relieved to have been correct about just what the blur really was all this time, and held out a hand to himself, feeling the odd sensation of gripping a his own hand and feeling the texture of the Flash suit in his grip.  Then it was gone and he was reaching out to nothing... dressed in his Flash suit, cowl hanging off the back instead of in place over his face.

In front of him, the machine where Barry had been locked in to await the energy from the particle accelerator erupted into a storm-like vortex and Cisco stood there, staring around himself in shock for a moment before turning towards Barry.  "Barry!  Take my hand!"

* * *

As abruptly as the sound of the storm had begun, it became suddenly, almost oppressively, quiet.

Hartley slowly took his hands off his ears and ventured in to the room.

"Hartley?"

"Barry!"

One second Barry was standing beside Cisco behind the machine and the next... the next he was in front of Hartley, holding him tightly.

"Don't leave me like that again," Hartley whispered harshly, focusing on the beat of Barry's heart, the thrum of his pulse in his veins, the sound of the air in his lungs... "I... we thought you were dead."

"I'm sorry, Hartley," Barry murmured against Hartley's ear, so quiet that no one could hear but him.  "I'm here.  I'm right here."  He pressed a kiss against Hartley's cheek.  "I love you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've finally plotted out how many chapters there will be... and the answer is actually six... plus an epilogue. Huh... why did I ever think it would be four? Silly me.
> 
> It took me a week longer than I wanted just to be able to get started on this chapter due to real life ensuing in the form of a work related conference (which was awesome, but exhausting) and then was delayed again because of Easter weekend... and then I struggled with it because I couldn't seem to get the time line to come together. Ugh, this chapter. Does not help that I wanted to cover some of the events of Rupture, but I hate Dante. Though I do feel bad leaving out their reconciliation scene. There was such promise there; Dante seemed to finally realize what sort of danger Cisco was routinely putting himself in to help the Flash fight bad guys and that maybe his misfit brother was actually a hero (and clearly terrified at the idea that Cisco might die out there without Dante ever knowing) and Cisco was just... broken from staring at the image of his dead brother in the form of Rupture. (It's why, though I do feel the writers dragged out Cisco's issues with Barry unnecessarily long in the first half of season 3, I completely buy that Cisco was having a difficult time struggling with his grief over Dante.)
> 
> Anyway, I've stopped thwacking my head against a metaphorical brick wall for this chapter and... I'm not 100% pleased with it, but I've reached a point where I'm satisfied enough with it and it does all the things I wanted it to. So... hope everyone enjoyed it?


	4. Breather Episode

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that Barry has his speed back, the team figures they have the advantage in rescuing Caitlin... but little do they know that Zoom is gathering the metas of both Earth-1 and Earth-2 to do some major damage, necessitating the team split up to tackle multiple enemies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since Barry's trip through the Speed Force was different, his reaction to getting back is going to be different too. A little less 'the universe loves us, how can we lose' and a little more 'the Speed Force would rather we win, but it's not going to do the heavy lifting for us' in his attitude.

It was with great reluctance that Hartley let go of Barry so that the speedster could be properly hugged by Cisco and, a bit awkwardly, shake Harry's hand.  Then they all headed back up to the infirmary (Hartley holding Barry's hand and listening intently to his heartbeat) where Eddie - the closest one to the door when they walked in - immediately hugged Barry.  Then it was Henry's turn as Eddie, a bit sheepishly, backed off.  Joe got his turn and it was only a matter of time before Iris and Wally were back to demand their hugs as well.

Once the current round of hugging was over, however, Barry zeroed in on Jesse.

"What happened to her?" he asked, holding Hartley's hand once more as they moved over to her bed.

"The Dark Matter that escaped when you were being... pulled into the Speed Force, it affected her.  Knocked her unconscious.  Wally too, but he woke up just fine.  Jesse, though..." Harry settled back into his chair beside her bed, taking his daughter's hand in his.

"It's like when you were first brought here," Cisco offered quietly.

Barry frowned thoughtfully and then stepped forward, letting go of Hartley's hand for a moment to take off his gloves and gently touch Jesse's hand.  Yellow electricity visibly arced between them and, as Barry slid his hand back into Hartley's (so much better now for not having the textured fabric of the suit hiding the warmth of Barry's fingers), Jesse's eyes blinked open.

She turned to look at her father and, a little sleepily, said, "hey."

"Jesse."  Harry squeezed her hand tightly then.

Then, looking around the room with a frown, she started to sit up.  "How did I get here?"  Seeing everyone clustered around her, she added, "what happened?"  To Barry she added, "did it work?"

"It worked," Barry told her.  "I've got my speed back."

"You should have stayed in the Time Vault," Harry chided her, even as he stood up and then leaned over to pull her into a tight hug.  "What were you thinking, leaving like that?"

"Well... I was thinking that I'm an adult who should be making her own decisions about her safety.  Also, Gideon was freaking out about the timelines, or something."

Hartley sort of face palmed.  "I forgot about that.  We should check on her; make sure her program still exists."

"You... forgot?"  Jesse raised an eyebrow, giving Hartley a rather arch look.

He shrugged and looked anywhere but Barry's face.  "I was kind of... mentally checked out after getting to the breach room to find out Barry was missing, presumed dead."

Barry immediately turned a concerned gaze on Hartley.

"I'm fine now.  Really."  Hartley flushed slightly as Barry's expression grew dubious.

Harry took over the explanations for what happened and the rest of them filtered out of the infirmary into the cortex to give them some space.

"How did you know to do that, Barry?"  Henry asked, glancing back to where Harry and Jesse were sitting.

"I just... knew.  Something left over from the Speed Force, I guess."  Barry slid his arm around Hartley shoulder and pulled him close.  "Are you okay?" he murmured.

Honestly, Hartley wasn't sure there was a good answer for that.  Everything was all jumbled up in his head and, since no one had gotten any sleep the night before, he felt like he was crashing now that Barry was alive and safe and his heart beat buzzed in Hartley's ears.  Struggling to keep his eyes open and leaning into his boyfriend's touch, Hartley murmured, "how about I answer that after I've had a chance to sleep?"

"Sounds good.  You all look exhausted."

"I could definitely do with some Zs," Cisco agreed.

Henry smiled a familiar, slightly lopsided smile that Barry had most definitely inherited.  "I noticed a break room just down the hall with a bunch of couches in it."

Eyes loosing the battle to stay open, Hartley let Barry guide him along to the other room.  The last thing he was really aware of before finally falling asleep was of curling up beside Barry, his head on Barry's lap, and the sound of Barry's heartbeat continuing to buzz comfortingly in his ears.

* * *

Barry idly slid his fingers through Hartley's hair, smiling in amusement as Cisco was the next to fall asleep.  Joe ended up nudging the engineer into a position that wouldn't leave Cisco with a crick in his neck before and Barry ducked his head a little as his smile got just a smidgen bigger.  It was always just a little amusing when Joe got the urge to parent any of them.

Eddie rolled in a chair to sit on while Joe and Henry settled on to the third couch.  "So," the young detective said, "time to start thinking about taking back the police station, or at least rescuing Caitlin from there?"

"Definitely," Barry agreed.  Then it occurred to him that, well, he was still in the Flash suit.  "Hold that thought.  Hartley?"  He shook Hartley's shoulder lightly.  The blond grumbled and blinked up at Barry.  "I just need you to sit up for a second," he promised.  Instead of sitting up, Hartley scooted further down onto the couch, no longer using Barry's lap as a pillow.  Good enough.  Barry zipped off, speed changing from the suit to a STAR Labs sweatshirt and matching pants.  Then he was back on the couch and coaxing his mostly-asleep boyfriend back to where he'd been moments earlier.

There was an odd look on Henry's face that hadn't been there a moment earlier and it occurred to Barry that, unlike everyone else, his dad wasn't really used to seeing him use his speed so casually.  Also he was probably itching to get him back to the infirmary to poke and prod him to make sure he was really one hundred percent healthy.  So that definitely needed to be next on his to-do list.

"We're going to need access to the security cameras in the station in order to make any plan of attack against Zoom," Joe started.  "Cisco said he'd get on that once we had you back, but... I think that's gonna have to wait a little while."  He glanced fondly over at the sleeping man.

"Right, so no concrete plans for now," Eddie conceded.  "Really, what we need is some sort of distraction.  If we can get Zoom away from the precinct long enough for Barry to rescue Caitlin..." he trailed off with a big yawn of his own.

"Maybe you should sleep first after all," Barry observed wryly, though he thought Eddie was on to something there.  It didn't feel quite right, but...

"Barry!" Iris stood in the doorway, clutching two large boxes stamped with the seal of a nearby donut place while Wally nearly walked into her shoulder, a carrier with coffee in it held tightly in his arms.  "Harry was telling the truth!"

"He redirected us here from the cortex; said Cisco'd brought you back," Wally filled in.

"Hey," Barry waved them over.  "I'd go over and hug you properly, but I'm being used as a pillow."

"Ooooh," Iris quieted and dropped off her goodies on the large triangular coffee table between the couches.  She grinned at the sight of Hartley curled up by Barry and then hugged her foster brother, kissing him on the cheek.  "Don't scare us like that again," she ordered him softly.

"Do my best," Barry promised, hugging her tightly in return before letting go.  Wally tried to get away with a handshake, but Barry pulled him into a hug too that turned out to be every bit as fierce as the one Iris had given him.

From there, more chairs were rolled into the room, though Iris did, jokingly, attempt to sit on Eddie's lap first.  After a few minutes, Harry and Jesse joined them as well and soon the majority of the breakfast foods were devoured.  Though they did make sure to save a couple of maple donuts for Cisco and some apple fritters for Hartley, both of whom continued to sleep soundly.

* * *

When Hartley woke up from his nap, there were apple fritters waiting for him, a sticky note with Barry's handwriting was stuck to the box with a general message to keep hands off Hartley's breakfast.

Grinning, Hartley popped a fritter in the microwave and set about making some hazelnut tea to go along with it.  He could hear the sound of Barry's heartbeat in the cortex, the indistinct sound of Barry and Henry's voices accompanying the distinct thrum of a speedster's heart.

His boyfriend - boyfriend! - was alive and well and faster than a speeding bullet.  All was right with the world.

Well... except for Caitlin.  

Hartley frowned and settled back on to the couch with his donut and tea.  What were they going to do to save her?  Even with Barry back to being a speedster again and, thankfully, having skipped the nine month coma this time, what could they do to take down Zoom?  He'd proven resistant to the paralysis fields and cold generators and suppression fields... the force field Cisco had developed to catch the Reverse Flash couldn't be moved and required too much energy and tech to ever be a viable means of catching the evil speedster.  Even then, Hartley wasn't convinced that Zoom couldn't just match the frequency of the force field, which would mean a rotating frequency which, in turn, would require even more power.

Sighing to himself, Hartley finished his donut and his tea and washed up.  Then, when he headed out into the hall, he turned towards the Time Vault to check on Gideon.

The AI powered back up, same as always.  "Hello, Hartley," she greeted him in what he was still entirely convinced was Morena Baccarin's voice.  Seemed like Barry would always be a Firefly fan, no matter how far into the future it took for him to develop the AI.

"Hi Gideon.  Are you okay?  Things were kind of... dicey earlier."

"The likelihood of my creation nearly dropped to zero percent," Gideon informed him.  "It was an experience I would prefer not to repeat."

"Yeah... me too."

"I take it the accelerator plan was successful?"

"He's a speedster again."  Hartley had no doubt she'd already known that, though.

Gideon nodded and then displayed the news article - the one about Barry disappearing in 2024.  The by-line read 'Iris West-Thawne' and Hartley felt oddly relieved.  Not that Iris and Eddie's relationship lasting meant that he and Barry would manage the same, but... Eobard had used the 'West-Allen' by-line to screw with Eddie's head.  So it was nice to see just how wrong evil Thawne had really been.

Better yet, Eddie's relationship with Iris meant that Eobard's chances of ever really existing were shrinking with every day.  In fact, Hartley was tempted to ask if the evil menace had managed to erase his own existence by creating a timeline where Eddie and Iris fell in love.  But, as always, he kept his mouth shut.  Some things, like the future, they were better off not knowing.

"Is there anything you need, Gideon?"

"No, thank you Hartley."  She deactivated herself.

Slipping back out into the hallway, Hartley headed towards the sound of his boyfriend's voice.  He stopped just outside the cortex, however, when his phone buzzed in his pocket.  He'd turned off the sound the night before, when Barry had announced his decision to go with Harry's accelerator plan.  Hartley hadn't wanted distractions, considering that there were still a few final adjustments to be made before he'd be satisfied that Barry wasn't doing the life and death equivalent of flipping a coin.

Swiping through his unlock code, Hartley saw the text alert first.  It was from his neighbor, Annie Miller, a nurse whose husband was overseas on deployment.  They had a twelve-year-old son, Daniel, who Hartley occasionally watched when Annie was busy.

_Can you pick up Danny after school for me?  I've got the flu; don't think I should be driving. ~ Annie_

Hartley stared at the text for a long moment, because... of course life was going on, business as usual.  Despite all the deaths Zoom caused, the world didn't stop turning even if, sometimes, it felt like it should.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.  It would probably be safer for the kid if one of their other neighbors got him after school.  But Geraldine - the little old busy body on the first floor, who'd been calling Hartley and Barry the 'cutest gay couple she'd ever seen' since the day Hartley had moved in to his apartment - had a bad hip and no driver's license these days, Alistair was terrible with kids (Danny was terrified of the guy, who was actually harmless and just gruff), and Nancy never checked her phone at work.  Hartley didn't know any of the other tenants very well and he doubted Annie did either; she could probably get the parents of one of Danny's friends to pick him up, but... they probably wouldn't actually go check on her and someone really ought to.

So Hartley texted back an affirmative and set an alarm on his phone, almost forgetting to turn the sound back on.

It was only when he finally cleared the screen that Hartley saw the little '1' hovering over the phone icon at the bottom right corner of his cell.  Hesitantly, Hartley opened up the call logs, trying to think of who might've called him in the last... ten-ish hours.

8:47 am - Osgood Rathaway.

The call must've come in while he'd been asleep on the couch.  It might've even been what woke him.

"Are you alright, Hartley?"  Barry's voice jerked Hartley out of his reverie.

"Annie's got the flu," he said, looking up at his boyfriend, who was now standing in front of him.  Henry could still be heard in the infirmary, so maybe he was still getting acquainted with Caitlin's setup.  "She asked me to pick up Danny from school for her."

Barry nodded, looking thoughtful.  "Annie's the one who lives across the hall from you, right?"

"Yeah..." the two of them had met a few times, but... not since Barry had traveled through time.  "You... remember her?"

"While I was in the Speed Force, it... gave me the memories I was missing from this time line.  Not all of them, but a lot of them."  Barry leaned in and kissed Hartley, slow at first and then harder until Hartley was backed up against the wall and trying not to make any loud noises into the kiss, because Henry was just in the other room and... Barry pulled away, eyes bright.  "There were so many times that I wanted to do that, but I was too afraid of what would happen to you if I came back from the past with no memory of us... or that I was misreading things with you and would screw up our friendship so much that you'd still save me from the Time Wraith, but then you'd walk out of my life and I'd have no idea how much I was losing."

"Definitely not misreading things," Hartley told him with a breathless grin, "though I'm glad you waited.  And, uh... not that I'm complaining, but do you know why the Speed Force helped you get those memories back?"

"Sort of?  It wanted me to understand that I'd changed a lot, just with a year's worth of differences caused by changing history.  Not just changing events or you... but how different I am from the person I was without you in my life.  Changes that were still there even when I couldn't remember what led to them.  Also..." Barry blushed and then nipped at Hartley's lower lip, eliciting a whine that Hartley couldn't quite control.  "I think the Speed Force ships us."

"Ships us?" Hartley repeated, a bit dazed.  Then he started to giggle.  "As in, your life is its equivalent of a televised, young-adult drama series and the Speed Force is all for Team Hartley?"

Barry blushed even harder and buried his face against Hartley's chest, nodding quickly.

Sliding a hand into Barry's hair, Hartley took a moment to enjoy petting his boyfriend and let his giggle fit fade away.  "That's awesome.  Ridiculously awesome."

"I know, right?"  Barry straightened back up, stealing another kiss before stepping back to put a little more space between them.

"The Speed Force tell you anything else interesting before Cisco brought you back?"

"It doesn't like it when people screw with the timeline, particularly when it results in two of the same person being present at the same time.  Which is how Zoom was able to fight himself as Jay so often on Earth-2.  The Time Wraiths are after him for that reason but... I guess they're having a difficult time tracking him?  That wasn't really clear to me.  But... even though the Speed Force doesn't like Zoom, it was pretty clear that we can't expect any Deus Ex Speed Force to come save us from Zoom.  It's on our side and it wants us to win, but..."

"No guarantees," Hartley filled in.

"Yeah.  Which sucks, because a guarantee that we're going to stop Zoom and save Caitlin would've been really nice to hear."

"Well, the Speed Force did do something nice for us," Hartley observed.  "It gave us you back.  You could've died in that machine last night.  But the Speed Force took you away and then gave you back and it gave us all hope."

Blushing again, Barry took a step back, but his hand slid up to toy with Hartley's hair.  "When I was in that machine and Harry turned it on..." his hand dropped away and his eyes unfocused a little.  "I don't think anything's ever hurt that much.  All I could think was I'd made a mistake, asking you not to be there."

"I felt pretty much exactly the same way.  That's why I left the vault with Jesse and Wally."  Hartley bit his lip and then flushed when he saw the way Barry was looking at his mouth... like he wanted to be the one biting his lip.  "Let's not do that again."

"I agree," Barry promised.  "... so, was Annie having the flu the only thing bothering you when I came out?"

Silently, Hartley handed over his phone to show Barry the missed call log.

"Oooooh."  Barry handed back the phone.  "Do you think they left another message?"

"Probably."

"Do you want to listen to the messages?"

"No... maybe..." Hartley sighed.  "I should.  I feel like things are unfinished with them and... I hate it."

"Hartley, what do you need?  I mean... do you want to keep trying to reconcile with them, or...?"  Barry took Hartley's hands in his own, after gently tucking the phone into Hartley's back pocket for him.  (Which... Barry's hands on his ass were so distracting...)

What Hartley wanted was for his parents to care about him.  To love him as he was and accept that being gay wasn't something he should hide or be ashamed of.  But what he needed... what he needed was closure and stability.  He opened his mouth to say that and... "I love you," slipped out instead.  He smiled tugged Barry closer again, brushing a kiss against his boyfriend's mouth.  "I love you," he repeated softly against Barry's lips.  Then, reluctantly, Hartley pulled back to put a little distance between them before he completely forgot Henry was in the other room.  "I want to listen to their messages and then... I think I need to tell them goodbye.  If they aren't going to make real efforts to change then I can't keep waiting for something that's never going to happen."

Barry looked so proud.

* * *

_"...I honestly thought family mattered more to you than that.  Rathaway Corp has fallen on difficult times recently; the current economy has been quite unkind to us and a merger with the Evergoods is the best call for all of us.  When you're ready to be a good son, then you can call us back."_

_"If you would like to save the message, press..."_

Hartley hurriedly pressed 7 and the message was deleted.  Barry tightened his arms around Hartley - they'd commandeered the break room since Cisco had woken up and wandered off to his own lab, leaving the room empty, and settled on one of the couches together - as the other man trembled and sniffled.

It was hard to believe that horrid woman was Hartley's mother.  Barry's urge to super sonic punch someone was back in full force.

The second message started to play.

_"I'm sorry Hartley.  I should have called sooner... or really, I should have stopped your mother from calling.  Unlike your mother, I recognize the current crisis Rathaway Corp is facing is our own fault and... what we asked of you was inappropriate and certainly not the actions of caring parents.  I'm sorry.  I'm sorry that I have failed you over and over again and that I must fail you again.  Don't call us back.  Live your life without us.  Ask that young man you mentioned to date you, enjoy that job you described so passionately, and find happiness.  Because I fear that all we will ever give you is misery and you deserve better.  I love you Hartley.  Goodbye."_

_"I_ _f you would like to save the message, press..."_

With a little sob, Hartley saved the message and disconnected from the voicemail box.  Then he tossed his phone onto the table and turned to curl into Barry's arms.

Barry had no idea what to say to Hartley.  The words 'it'll be okay' sound like a lie even in the confines of his own thoughts.  So he tightened his grip on Hartley and murmured 'I love you' instead. 

Idly, Barry wonders what Hartley's thoughts on taking the last name 'Allen' might be and then flushes because _whoa there_ , he is definitely jumping the gun a little... or a lot.  But... it is something to keep in mind, for later.  He wants Hartley to be his future.  He wants to know who they'll become together.

But, first, he'd like to know who they'll be next week.

Eventually, Hartley's crying subsides and they talk about other things.  Barry asks about what Hartley meant about 'mentally checking out' and aches inside to hear Hartley describe the panic attack that basically wiped him out and his struggle to get back up and start looking for some other way to fight Zoom without Barry.

It's entirely possibly that Hartley is the strongest person Barry knows and he makes sure to tell him that.

In turn, Barry goes a little more in depth about his experiences inside the Speed Force, about how in the end he was chasing after himself and how every time the speedster version of himself led him somewhere... there was a new memory of Hartley waiting for him.  And when he came home, there was Hartley... waiting for him.

"Promise you'll always come home and I'll always be waiting for you."

"I promise."

* * *

They're in the middle of planning how to bring Caitlin home when she walks through the doors of the cortex on her own.  She's clearly in shock and they immediately wrap her up in blankets while Henry gets her a mild sedative because she definitely looks like she needs it.

Cisco clings on to her right side while Caitlin reaches out with her left to latch on to Barry's arm.  "He told me you were dead."

Barry hugs her back and pets her hair, letting her feel for herself that Barry's still there, still alive.  "I'm still here," he told her.  "I'm still alive.  Zoom was wrong."

"We're all here," Hartley told her only for Caitlin to reach out and grab him, dragging him closer.

"He's gonna overrun the city," she told them urgently.  "He-he's brought metas from Earth-2 and rounded up a bunch of our Earth's metas and... we can't stop him."

Kneeling down in front of her, Barry taps her knees lightly.  "He's not going to win.  We've got this.  I have my speed back and we're all together again; we're stronger together than apart."

"You... you have your speed back?" her voice sounded so small.

"Yes.  I know you're scared and this is a lot to ask, but I need you to trust me when I say we're going to beat him."  Barry grinned as Caitlin nodded.

"How did you get your speed back?" Caitlin asked, and this time she sounded surer, stronger.

"The same way he got it the first time, but with less explosions or public property damage," Hartley told her.  "There was, actually, a coma involved, but Jesse has since woken up and it'll be just Harry's luck if she turns out to be a speedster later on."

"Shut up, Rathaway, that'll never happen."

"It could..."

"I'm going to stick my fingers in my ears and hum as loudly, and as off-key, as possible if you don't shut up."

"She won't ever be able to get drunk, if she's a speedster."

There was a long moment of silence and then Harry mused, "that's... actually a really good point."

"Appealing to his dad sensibilities?" Caitlin stage whispered, leaning into her friends embraces.  She was smiling, just a little, and calmer.  As if their weirdness and banter made everything a little more real for her.

"Smart move," Cisco approved, though the look he gave Hartley showed he knew exactly what the other man had really been doing.

From there, Caitlin told them in more detail how Zoom let her go and how he was gathering metas from both worlds together for an attack on the city that evening.  But that was hours away and for now, at least, they were all safe under the same roof.  They all intended to make the moments count.

* * *

There was no answer when Hartley knocked on the door, so he pulled out the spare key Annie had given him after the first time he'd agreed to be a last minute babysitter for Danny.  Unlocking the door, he pushed it open and knocked again, calling out, "hey, Annie, I just wanted to check on how you're doing.  Everything okay?"

Still no answer, so maybe she wasn't there.  Maybe she'd gone to visit her doctor?  Except, no... now that the door was open, he could hear a heartbeat coming from... the bathroom?

Following the sound of Annie's heartbeat, Hartley found another closed door.  He knocked again.  "Annie?  Annie, it's Hartley.  I was just..." he'd opened the door and trailed off.  Annie was passed out on the bathroom rug, trembling from fever.

"Shit," Hartley breathed, hurrying over to kneel beside her and shaking her shoulder.  "Annie, Annie wake up.  Annie, come on, you need to wake up."

"S-so cold," she muttered, eyes glazed looking when they fluttered open.  

"I know.  I need you to give me your hands so I can help you to bed, okay?"  Annie nodded and, with a little more gentle verbal prodding, she followed Hartley's instructions to get up and let him escort her back to bed.  Once she was tucked in, he found her thermometer and had her stick it in her mouth while he raided her fridge for sports drinks.  He found a lemon flavored one that ought to be good enough and traded that for her thermometer, checking her temperature and making her drink.  He frowned at the reading on the thermometer.  Her temperature was too high and Hartley didn't have the time to take care of her himself, or Daniel either for that matter.

Sighing to himself, Hartley found Annie some comfortable clothes and convinced her to change into them while he went into the living room to track down the number for Danny's school.  There was a school phone book tucked away in one of the kitchen drawers with a bunch of takeout menus and the very first page had the number Hartley needed.  Fifteen minutes of exasperatedly repeating that he's not Annie's boyfriend later (in between convincing the lady running the school's office phones to let Danny know that he'll need to stay with a friend tonight), Hartley checks back in on Annie, who has changed into the sweatshirt and pants and Hartley had laid out for her.

She's sitting on the bed, pulling on her shoes with a sort of glazed expression, not even looking up when Hartley peered inside.  "I wish Mark was here," she muttered softly to herself.

Hartley grimaced.  He wished her husband were here too.  But he sighed and went in.  "Annie?  I'm going to take you to the hospital, okay?  Your fever is too high and you're dehydrated."  The sports drink he'd given her hasn't been touched beyond what little she drank when he gave it to her and it seemed pretty clear from where he'd found her what she'd been doing before she'd passed out.

Annie just nodded and let Hartley grab her purse, which he checked to be sure it had her phone and keys.  She followed him out into the hall and nearly collapsed there, but he grabbed her shoulders just in time, helping her to lean against the wall instead.  Once he was sure she wasn't going to pass out right there, he pulled her door shut and locked it.  Then he slung her arm around his shoulders and then curled has own arm around her waist, holding her up all the way to the elevator.  Since it was just after noon, Hartley had been able to park in the spot nearest the building entrance by the elevators, so it's not too long before he's got her in his passenger seat.  That's when she looks up at him, frantically, and says, "what about Danny?"

"He'll be going home with a friend tonight," Hartley promised.  "I've already called the school so that he'll know to arrange to stay with one of his friends and I'll call him as soon as school lets out to make sure everything goes alright on his end."  He waits for Annie to calm and then shuts the door on her, hurrying around to the drivers seat and heading out to the closest hospital that isn't in the direction of the police station.

Once he gets her to the emergency room to have Annie admitted, Hartley gets to go through the wonderfully fun process of identifying himself as the neighbor all over again.  Not the husband, not the boyfriend, not the 'neighbor' with waggling eyebrows and knowing looks.  Just the neighbor who is very gay and even more annoyed.

* * *

"She's out like a light, huh?"

"Yeah," Barry glanced over at Cisco.  "I'd like to think its because she feels safe here, but... it's probably more like exhaustion and that light sedative dad gave her."

"That'd do it," Cisco agreed.  "How are you doing?"

"I'm... I dunno, I feel peaceful," Barry admitted.  "Like being in the Speed Force helped take some of the edge off from all the tension we've been under."

"Sounds good," Cisco said, giving Caitlin a wistful look.  "Too bad you can't share that around.  So where did Hartley run off to?"

"His neighbor called earlier - Annie - and she's got the flu."

"Ah, she called about getting a ride for Danny, then?" Cisco confirmed.

Barry nodded.  "Hart just wanted to check in on her, make sure she's got everything she needs medicine and supply-wise."

"That's..." Cisco trailed off, eyes widening and his body tensing up.  It only lasts a few seconds before Cisco comes out of the vision with a gasp.

"Did you just vibe?" Barry asks, standing up and moving closer to him, worried.  "What did you see?"

"I saw... a dead bird."  Cisco wrinkled his nose and shrugged.  "Not a clue what's so special about a dead bird, though."

In the cortex, Cisco's meta alert goes nuts right as Barry opens his mouth to speak.  Barry flashes to the computer screens while Cisco hurries over at normal speeds.  "Looks like one of Zoom's metas has started the party earlier than expected," Barry tells Cisco.  "Mercury Labs..."

"...is under attack," Cisco finishes for him.

They exchange a look and then Barry is gone, changing into the Flash suit and heading straight for danger.  Doing this meant giving up any hope of surprising Zoom with his survival... but what else could Barry do?  He can't just sit back and let these people die at the hands of Zoom's metas.

He gets there and, in a split second, takes in the damage.  The foundation of Mercury Labs has been shattered, along with the major exterior support beams.  People are running from the building, screaming in terror, but there are far, far more inside and the building isn't going to last long.  So Barry runs, clearing the first floor, then the second, and the third... and he feels like he's running faster than ever.  He'd been getting steadily faster before losing his speed, but this isn't just the feeling of using his top speeds again for the first time since getting back his powers.  It feels like a clear jump in ability... like maybe the Speed Force was trying to stack the deck in his favor?

Whatever it is, Barry is grateful because it means that he can grab Dr. McGee mid fall when the floor crumbles beneath her feet; that the falling debris of the building collapsing beneath them seems to almost stand still as he darts around from piece to piece until, finally, he's back on the first floor, and runs out the front door, setting Dr. McGee down with her scientists.  He turns to go back in, but its too late.

Not everyone got out.

"Thank you, Mr. Allen."

Barry glances over at her, surprised and, for the moment anyway, distracted from the fact that 'faster than ever' still isn't fast enough to save everyone.

"I'm not stupid, you know."

Barry snorts in amusement and smiles at her, then frowns and looks back at the building.  There's no sign of the meta responsible for this attack and that worries him.

* * *

"Is Hartley back yet?" Barry asked the moment he returned to STAR Labs, Dr. McGee in tow at her insistence.  He hoped his worry over Hartley wasn't showing on his face.

Cisco shook his head 'no' and then nodded at McGee, raising an eyebrow in askance.

"I'm well aware of what you've all been up to here at STAR Labs.  It's quite admirable," she told him.  "Certainly I'm quite grateful to Mr. Allen for saving my life and the lives of my employees."

Barry pulled off his cowl and bit back on the instinct to qualify that as being only most of her employees.  She'd probably tell him that no one could save everyone, or something to that effect.  That's what everyone else was always telling him, Hartley especially, and they were right.  He was never going to be okay with not being able to save someone, but... it was starting to be easier to live with.

"Ah, that's... thanks?"  Cisco looked hilariously bewildered and then just shrugged, handing Barry his phone.  "You did get a text from Hartley."

After pulling off one of his gloves, Barry unlocked the screen and checked his texts.   _Taking Annie to hospital; will be gone longer than expected._

On the one hand, Barry relaxes just the slightest bit.  Hartley's running late, but obviously he was right to go check on his neighbor if she's bad enough to need to be admitted to the hospital.  On the other hand, Barry's not sure he's going to feel safe without having everyone he cares about in easy reach until Zoom is... defeated and locked away or just dead and gone.  Not that keeping them close will protect his friends and family the way he wishes it would.

Even now, he can't save everyone.  Not from Zoom's metas and not from Zoom himself.  He has to concentrate on saving who he can... and mourn the rest later.

"Dr. McGee, did you see who attacked Mercury Labs?" Barry asked.  "There was no sign of the meta when I got there, so..."

She shook her head negatively.  "I'm afraid not, Mr. Allen."  She glanced up, smiling at Henry as he wandered over to her.  "I'm... afraid we've never been introduced," she said, smiling a bit wider.

Henry grinned back and held out a hand to her.  "I'm Doctor Henry Allen.  Barry's father."

"Doctor Tina McGee," she responded, shaking Henry's hand and... definitely blushing a little there.  She wasn't the only one either.

Barry grinned in amusement and wondered if, maybe, he should be doing some matchmaking there.  Eh, he'd wait and see.

"Back to your earlier question, it's possible the security cameras may have caught something," Dr. McGee continued, turning her attention back to Barry.

"Can we access them?"

"Mercury Labs does have a Crash-Survivable Memory Unit. Basically a black box for buildings. It will have stored all the security footage right up until the building collapsed."

"Okay, great, I'll go find it," Barry told her.  "About where in the building was it stored before the collapse?"

"There was a security room on the first floor."  She looked over at Cisco.  "If you don't mind pulling up the schematics of the building, Mr. Ramon, then I should be able to pinpoint the correct room for Mr. Allen."

"Not a problem," Cisco assured her, already hitting the keyboard.

"This wasn't some random meta-human," Joe mused.  "Whenever Mercury Labs has been targeted in the past, there's always been a specific reason.  This time, it's likely one of Zoom's minions retrieving something for him."

Tentatively, McGee spoke up again.  "There may be one more possibility. A few months ago, I saw Harrison Wells running out of my facility. I know it sounds crazy, but I'm certain it was him. Is there any way he could have anything to do with this?"

"A few months ago?  Sure."

Barry resisted the urge to face-palm at the sound of Harry's voice.

"God-dammit, Harry," Cisco muttered under his breath, looking as annoyed as Barry felt.

"Now? No."  Harry grinned and took a drink of his coffee.

"Yeah," Barry said tightly, looking between McGee's shocked face and Harry's smug expression, "there are a few more things that we could catch you up on, Dr. McGee."

Caitlin and Jesse walked up behind Harry, Caitlin clutching a coffee cup of her own.  "Is Harry causing trouble again?" she asked, taking one look at the room.  "Also... Barry?" she raised an eyebrow at him and then looked pointedly at Dr. McGee.

"She had already figured it out for herself," Barry responded defensively.

Looking up from his keyboard, Cisco added, "when isn't Harry causing trouble?"

Sighing and exchanging a look with Jesse, Caitlin smacked the back of Harry's head and then sidled past him while he spluttered.

"Snow!"

"Totally deserved that one, dad," Jesse told him cheekily.

"Dad?" McGee whispered, staring wide eyed at Jesse now.

"Dr. McGee, what do you know about multi-verse theory?" Caitlin asked.

* * *

Metas had started a riot on main street.

Hartley had been just about to leave the hospital when he'd seen the news report the attack on Mercury Labs.  He'd stared at the screen along with everyone else, silent among the cheering crowd in the Lobby as the Flash showed up to save the day.  They were all so pleased that the Flash was back, saving lives again... but all Hartley could think was that Zoom would know Barry was alive.

He slipped out of the hospital in a daze and sat in his car for a long moment.  He should call the Lab and... and say... he had no idea.

Barry was okay, for now, but how long before Zoom went after him.  Or... how long before Zoom went after someone Barry loved, to punish him?

He ought to drive straight back to STAR Labs and shower and change there.  They all ought to stick together, now more than ever.

But instead of going to STAR, Hartley gave in to the urge to drive back home.  He showered and changed and exchanged the dirty clothes he'd brought from his locker at STAR for clean clothes to keep there as spares.  He kept the news on the tv as he gathered in things only to stare at the screen as the Picture News began to cover the police trying to stop the rioting; most of the people involved were scared, angry, non-metahumans, but the instigators were clearly visible among the crowd.  There were two hawk-like people flying around in the distance and the camera had caught sight of a man with electrical powers as well as a young woman who spun like a deranged top, knocking down anything in her way.  But, once again, the Flash sped to the rescue, gathering up the metas - presumably, dumping them off in the empty meta cells at Iron Heights and the pipeline - and helping to disperse the rest of the rioters.

"Dammit, Barry," Hartley breathed out, terrified that his boyfriend's presence would bring Zoom running out into the middle of it all.  "Try not to get yourself killed."  He sat down heavily, watching as cameras caught the electric blur that was Barry, zipping about, up and down buildings and across various streets.  Hartley breathed a sigh of relief, however, when the Flash sightings stopped and there were still no reports of Zoom.

He jumped when the red blur from the news reports was suddenly sitting next to him on the couch.

"Holy shit..."  Hartley yelped.

"Sorry, I just... wanted to check on you."  Barry pulled back his cowl, looking a touch sheepish.

"Check on me," Hartley repeated teasingly, enjoying the flushed look on his boyfriend's face.

"Ah... well... also..." Barry blushed even harder.  "We just... haven't really had any time to ourselves since we started dating.  Well... we have, just not anywhere we could be sure no one would walk in on us."

"How about you eat something first and then we do things we wouldn't want an audience for," Hartley teased.

"That's not what I... wait... really?" Barry was nearly the same shade as his suit, eyes dark with want.

"Power bars, Barry."

"Right."  A second later, Barry had sped his way through his power bar snack.

Hartley started laughing.

"Oh shut up," Barry grumbled, mock pouting.  "I just really want to kiss you, okay?"

"I'm not complaining," Hartley promised, leaning over to kiss his boyfriend and tasting the chocolate that lingered on Barry's lips.

Though the kiss started chastely enough, it wasn't long before Hartley found himself climbing on top of Barry, running his hands over Barry's suit clad arms and chest while Barry's hands slid up and down along Hartley's spine, moving closer and closer to... he pulled away from the kiss to drag in a breath of air, letting out a startled moan of pleasure when Barry's hands squeezed his ass.  Barry trembled beneath him... or was that a vibration?

It was a vibration and Hartley wanted very, very much to grind down against Barry', turning their make out session into something else entirely.  But... there wasn't really time for that.  At least, not the way Hartley wanted their first time to go.  He wanted unhurried exploration and a bed and discussing boundaries and kinks and likes and dislikes...

"If we keep this up, we might very well end up breaking the 'suit is not a sex toy' rule Cisco made," Hartley said, regretfully sliding off of Barry's lap to sit beside him again as Barry giggled.  They shared a few more languid kisses, warmth curling low in his belly.  "See you at STAR?"

"Yeah..." Barry kissed him again and then sped off, phasing through the doorway and disappearing.

Running a hand through his hair, Hartley let out a shaky breath.  "I really need to get him in my bed," he muttered to himself.  His boyfriend vibrated when he got excited; how had Hartley managed to forget that?

* * *

Back at STAR, however, Barry didn't have the chance to wait for Hartley to get there.

Cisco and Dr. McGee had finally found the relevant video files on the black box, but apparently they hadn't learned anything of use.  Dr. McGee had headed out to talk with her employees and find out if anyone had seen anything before the collapse.  Barry had apparently only just missed her.  But they'd had the CCPN on in the background the whole time - it was how Barry had known about the rioting - and now it was displaying a calling card lit bright against the CCPD.  A lightning bolt made out of fire.

Zoom.

"Barry," Cisco tried to caution him and he thought he heard his father say, "don't do it."

But this had to end, and so Barry didn't listen.  He ran.

The CCPD bullpen was eerily silent when Barry arrived.  The desks were trashed and the wall of fallen police officers was emptied, shattered picture frames on the floor instead.  Barry walked over, careful, looking for... there was Fred Chyre's picture, torn on one corner but in surprisingly good condition.  He'd never liked Barry all that much, but Fred had been a good partner to Joe.  Carefully, Barry fished the picture out of the mess and left it on Joe's desk, in one of the drawers, for safekeeping.

A noise upstairs caught Barry's attention and he was up the stairs in a second and then headed towards his own lab.  At Barry's desk sat Zoom, casually perusing through a box of newspaper clippings.

After Henry had been released from jail, Barry had taken down his board of impossible things, stowing it all away in a box in the largest drawer of his desk.  With Nora's murder finally solved, the real murderer dead, and his father free, Barry hadn't felt the need to keep dwelling on her death.  But she'd been his inspiration for becoming a CSI and Barry hadn't felt comfortable getting rid of the clippings from the board... or even taking them home.  They belonged here, where he worked.

And now Zoom was laying the papers out on Barry's desk, as if trying to see in them what Barry had been looking for.

"You know, I never saw the crime photos of my mother's murder."  Jay caressed the photograph of Nora from the headline "Doctor Murders Wife" and Barry fought the urge to rush over there and punch Zoom in the face.  That wouldn't do any good; not yet, anyway.  "Well, I guess I didn't need to.  I had a ringside seat while you got whisked away.  Too delicate, I suppose."  Finally looking up, Zoom smirked at him.  "Not just a hologram after all, are you, Flash?  Interesting."

"You didn't call me up here just to talk," Barry snapped.  "Let's finish this."

"Actually, I really did call you here to chat.  I wanted to let you know that you can't keep running from one meta to the next, chasing your tail like a dog."  Zoom snickered.

"I'll do whatever it takes to stop you."

"Not good enough.  'Cause, here's the thing.  I know you."  Zoom held up the newspaper clipping.  "Everything I was missing about you, was here in this building and I've been learning.  I know what's been holding you back.  You and me... we're really just the same person."

"You keep saying that," Barry scoffed, "but repeating it isn't going to magically make it true."

"You'll see," Zoom promised.  "We are.  Same tragic background.  Same reason for running.  Same desire to be the fastest, to be the best.  The difference?  You think your anger is dirty somehow.  You want to be seen as pure... the hero.  Doesn't it get exhausting?  Doesn't it get exhausting, Barry!  It certainly was so exhausting, playing at being Jay."

"My father was innocent," Barry countered, "and it isn't about being the fastest or being the best; it's about trying my hardest and, yeah, I have a hard time accepting that's enough sometimes.  And my anger?  It pushes me to do better, to try harder... but I don't let it control me the way you've let yours control you.  The only thing that made playing the good guy exhausting for you was the fact that you were having to fake all the things that come naturally to the rest of us."

Zoom snarled and ripped the newspaper clipping in his hands, straight through the middle of Nora's photograph.  He crackled with electricity, lighting up the room in blue for a moment and then, with a loud rumble, a building just outside began to crumble.  An empty parking garage, from the looks of it; one of the buildings abandoned in the radius emptied to try and keep people safe from Zoom.

"Now, I'd just let that building fall without a second thought.  But you... you have to check; have to know if there's anyone in there, if your inaction means people die.  You hesitate.  That's why I'm going to win, Barry.  Because I don't have to be the hero.  Now, that building may be empty, but what about the next?  Or the one after that?  My little pet out there... she's just so eager to destroy for me and who will stop her while you're busy with me?  And there are others, all over the city, each waiting for my permission to start wreaking havoc.  Some of them are even metas from this Earth.  I met an interesting man with a penchant for turning himself to gas and suffocating people with poison.  He had such... interesting stories to tell about you."

Frustrated, Barry was gone in a flash, over to the other building and searching for anyone who might've been squatting there despite the quarantine, or the meta responsible for its destruction.  But it really was empty and, much like with Mercury Labs, the meta was already gone.

He returned to STAR again, only to find himself immediately pulled into Hartley's arms.  "What have I told you about running off without making a plan?" Hartley muttered against Barry's ear, shaking as he held the speedster tightly.

"Sorry," Barry murmured in return, brushing a regretful kiss against Hartley's mouth before pulling away to address the others.  "We can't let Zoom destroy another building.  We need to take him down.  Now."

"And how do you propose we do that with an army of meta-humans laying waste to Central City?" Harry demanded.  "We couldn't stop Zoom on my Earth.  What makes us different?"

"Because we're a team.  We start with the meta-humans; they're his armor.  If we can take them out first, then that leaves Zoom vulnerable."  Barry felt oddly calm now, his mind still racing to put together various puzzle pieces to solve the problem that was Zoom, but... he wasn't afraid at the moment.  He was angry.

"We don't even know how many of his minions there are," Caitlin spoke up, frustration coloring her voice. "Each with different powers. It could take weeks to track them all down."

"We don't have weeks; what we need is something capable of stopping them all at once."  Barry paused and then... "Cisco, your goggles and camera, they didn't work on Earth-2, right?"

"Yeah, it was a whole different frequency," Cisco confirmed.

"And Hart, you took down the Time Wraiths, forcing them back to their reality..."

"Because I disrupted them with the right frequency," Hartley filled in, grinning as what Barry was saying clicked.  "I think I get where you're going with this."  He kissed Barry, hard, "you're a genius."

"We need to come up with some vibrational tech that'll take down the Earth-2 metas."  Cisco was grinning.

"Zoom also mentioned having some of our Earth's metas on his side.  He mentioned Nimbus - referenced his powers, but not his name.  It sounds like Lisa hasn't been able to keep the Rogues in check with her brother having left with the Legends.  I think we should use Gideon to try and contact the Waverider.  I doubt Snart will appreciate his crew breaking his rules, but even if he won't help us there are six other people on that ship who will.  The more people we have keeping our Earth's metas in check, the fewer allies Zoom will have to depend on."

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Joe agreed.

"Right," Hartley nodded to himself, Cisco, Caitlin, and Harry.  "We'll get started on figuring out a vibrational weapon."

"I'll go see to Gideon," Barry said, heading out into the hallway.  Joe tagged along behind him.

"Barr, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Yeah," Barry slowed his pace so they could walk to the time vault together.  "What's up?"

"It's about Wally," Joe told him.  

Barry stopped, worried, "is he okay?"

"For now."  Joe sighed, frustrated.  "Earlier, he thought it would be a good idea if he used himself as bait against a meta-human psycho.  It's too dangerous for him out there, but he won't listen to me."

"Do you want me to talk to him?"

"Yes."

Barry nodded.  "Alright.  As soon as I've got Gideon broadcasting a message for the Waverider, I'll go find Wally and try to talk him out of being so reckless.  I don't know that he'll listen to me any more than you, but..."

"Thank you, Barr."

Impulsively, Barry hugged Joe.  "You know he's just afraid of feeling useless, right?  Maybe, if we can figure out some way he can contribute, he'll stop running around out there risking himself."

"Cisco has been trying to convince Wally to major in mechanical engineering," Joe mused.  "Maybe he could assist with something here?"

"It's worth mentioning," Barry agreed.

"I should get back to Captain Singh," Joe told him, regretfully backing away.  "Take care of yourself, Barry."

"You too, Joe."

Barry walked the rest of the way to the time vault, turning over in his head the question of how to phrase his request for help from the Waverider and what he'd say to Wally once he found him.  He entered the vault and activated Gideon.

"Good evening, Barry Allen," the AI greeted.  "It's good to see you well."

"Thank you, Gideon.  Can you transmit a message to the Waverider, captained by Rip Hunter, a rogue Time Master?"  Because if she couldn't, then that was one bright idea sunk.

"Yes.  Transmission is possible, though reaching him at the correct time period in his life will be more difficult.  Could you provide more data to narrow down when to send the transmission to?"

"Of course.  He's currently traveling with Professor Stein, Jefferson Jackson, Ray Palmer, Sara Lance, Kendra Saunders, Carter Hall, Leonard Snart, and Mick Rory.  They've been tracking a man named Vandal Savage across the timelines in an attempt to permanently kill him."  Barry rattled off the list of names, hoping that they were all okay.

"Approximate time frame pinpointed," Gideon announced.  "There is an AI running his ship based off of my template, also called Gideon.  I should be able to make contact through her.  Please, record your message."

"Captain Hunter, this is Barry Allen and I need the help of you and your crew.  Zoom has invaded our Earth with meta-humans from Earth-2 and been recruiting to his army from our Earth's meta-humans as well.  This includes some former members of Snart's Rogues.  We've only got confirmation on Nimbus so far, but we'll be contacting Lisa soon to find out how many others have jumped ship."  From there, Barry described how much of Central City Zoom had already taken over and their plan to create a device that would knock out the Earth-2 metas.  "But that still leaves us with all of the metas from our Earth who've joined him and we can't deal with them, and Zoom, at the same time.  I know we don't know each other, Captain Hunter, but I know your team and they're people I trust.  I hope we can count on you.

"Gideon, end recording."

"Recording completed.  I'll begin transmitting immediately."

* * *

"Hey," Hartley gave Cisco a concerned look as he walked in to the lab.  Even with Harry running off to grab Jesse from where ever she'd disappeared off to earlier, Cisco was still the last one to walk in.  "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just... I vibed something, but it's not making any sense."  Cisco huffed in annoyance.  "It's actually the second time, but it wasn't any more helpful this time around either.  Just... a bunch of dead birds.  Like a Hitchcock film in my head."  He shrugged, "if I can manage to actually see anything useful, then I'll let Barry know.  But for now..."

"For now we've got work to do," Harry filled in.

From the back of the room, Caitlin let out a little shriek, staring up at nothing and looking utterly terrified.  Cisco brushed past Hartley, over to her, putting his hands on her shoulders.  "Caitlin.  Caitlin!  Look at me.  Okay?  Breathe, okay?" quietly he led her through a very familiar breathing exercise, one Hartley remembered Iris and Eddie helping him with... was it really just that morning?

"You're okay, alright?" Cisco tried to reassure her.  Caitlin nodded, not quite looking at him, and so Cisco said, gently, "You're shaking, Cait."

"I... I thought I saw him.  Zoom.  I thought I saw him, in the reflection of the board and then... right here."

"He's not here.  It's just us."  He rubbed her shoulders lightly.

"I see him every where," she whispered, looking down, ashamed.

"Look, you literally just escaped a psychopath who kidnapped you, all right?"  Cisco tugged her into a fierce hug.  "So I think it's normal for you to have a severe reaction like this."

Caitlin let out a shuddering breath.  "It feels like Jay took everything from me. My confidence, my trust, my sanity. I don't think I'll ever be whole again."

"Yes, you will."

Hoarsely, she asked, "when?"

"It takes time," Hartley spoke up, having not wanted to interrupt the two until Cisco had calmed Caitlin down some.  "When Barry was sucked into the Speed Force, we thought he was dead.  I had a pretty major panic attack.  So today hasn't really been all that great for anyone's mental health.  But that's nothing to feel ashamed of, Caitlin.  Needing to depend on our friends to help us deal with trauma isn't a weakness.  It's what keeps us strong.  It's why you're still here, trying to help, despite how afraid of him you are.  That's something to be proud of."

"Thank you, Cisco, Hartley," she curled a little more into Cisco's embrace, burying her face against her best friend's shoulder.

Stealing the marker from Harry, Hartley moved over to the marker board and started writing, wondering how long it would take the others to catch on to his train of thought.  Barry's idea had been brilliant and Hartley thought he knew just the way to go about implementing it...

* * *

Barry had been in the middle of trying to convince Wally to come back to STAR Labs and help out there when he got the message about a meta-human alert on fifth and main.  (Despite understanding how worried Joe was about Wally, Barry couldn't help but feel ridiculously proud of his brother.  There was no doubting that Wally was a West, through and through.)

He wished, after arriving, that he'd found anyone else there waiting for him.  "Laurel?" he asked, shocked.  

"Laurel Lance is dead," the Earth-2 meta mocked.  "On this Earth, anyway.  Poor Black Canary... bye bye, birdie."

Over the comms, Barry could hear the grief in his friends voices as Harry asked about their Laurel.

_"We didn't just know her; we loved her."_

As Laurel edged around towards him, Barry maintained their distance.  "So... what do I call you?"

"You can call me... Black Siren."  She smirked.  "Zoom mentioned you might be showing up."

"If you know what I can do, you should be looking more worried than this," Barry taunted.

Siren smirked a little wider.  "I could say the same to you."

"Why did you destroy Mercury Labs?"

She tossed her hair and waved her hands absently, coyly.  "I like to watching things fall and crumble.  And guess what?  You're next, Red."  And then she screamed.

It was like being hit by an attack from Hartley's gloves.  The vibrations slammed into Barry, knocking him to the ground.  But, despite how loud it was, the modifications Hartley had made to his earpieces filtered the worst of the vibrations away from Barry's ears.  He was back on his feet the second Laurel had to pause for breath, recovering faster than she'd thought he would, if the look of shock that flickered across her face was any indication.  She shrieked at him again and again, but this time Barry was ready, dodging before the sound waves could reach him.  Also edging closer to her this time around.

"You should really reconsider the name," Barry told her, moving to stand just behind her shoulder.  When she whirled around and screamed, Barry was already gone, behind her once again.  "Banshee would probably suit you better."

She howled with anger and loneliness and all the bitter darkness that Barry had known Laurel had inside her... but their Laurel had learned to own that darkness.  Why was it that one person could be beaten down time and again and then get up all the stronger for it, more determined than ever to use their pain to protect others... and some people became so defeated that they could want nothing more than to cause that same pain for others?

Who did this Laurel have to support her when her life came crashing down around her?

Barry slammed Black Siren down onto the pavement, which cracked and crumbled beneath her screams.

"Oliver Queen is alive on this Earth."  Seven simple words - a stab in the dark - and Laurel shut up.

"What?"

"He's alive.  He's running for Mayor of Star City."

"He's not my Oliver."

"No, he's not," Barry agreed, holding her hands steady behind her back, pinning her down awkwardly so that she couldn't turn to scream at him.  "But he loved this Earth's Laurel and he's grieving for her.  When Zoom is tired of Central City and starts expanding, how long do you think it'll take him to decide to set his sights on Star City?  Oliver would never willingly cave to Zoom's demand; Zoom will kill him and you'll have to watch him die all over again.  Is that really what you want?"

"He... he's not my Oliver," she whispered again and then screamed, trying to create enough kickback to throw Barry off of her.

Instead, Barry shoved her down again, hard enough that she hit her head on the asphalt and reeled from the blow, looking dizzy enough that Barry felt confident in trying to run her to the pipeline.

That, however, turned out to be a mistake.

Screaming again, Laurel broke out of Barry's hold, skidding on the street and accruing what had to be painful road rash.  Then she screamed once more, but this was less meta attack and more anguished cry of pain.  Her arm was at an awkward angle... broken.

She sobbed and struggled to sit up, then collapsed unconscious.

Very, very carefully, Barry picked her up and resumed running for STAR Labs.

* * *

"Ow."

"Sorry."

Hartley tried not to snicker from out in the hallway where he was on the phone.  "Hey, Danny, were you able to get a friend to take you home after school or do I need to run by and pick you up after all?"

"I'm on my way to Jimmy's," Danny told him and Hartley could hear the road noises, and the voices of James McIntyre and his mother - Rose?  Rosa? - in the background.  "Is mom really going to be okay?"

"She had a really high fever and was dehydrated.  If we weren't in the middle of a work emergency, I'd have taken off to look after her but..." he shrugged, even though the kid couldn't see him.  Annie was really kind and Hartley really would have taken off to look after her if he could've.

"STAR Labs is helping the Flash fight all the bad metas," Danny told him in a more serious tone than any kid should have to use.

"Yeah... we are."  He paused a beat and then asked, "can I talk to Mrs. McIntyre for a minute?"

"Umm..." there was a muffled conversation and then Daniel's voice was replaced by a woman's.

"Mr. Rathaway?"

"Mrs. McIntyre... I'm sure you've been following the news today?"  He heard her noise of agreement and then said, "it's probably going to get worse before it gets better.  You might want to consider keeping James and Daniel home from school tomorrow.  Give them a long weekend."

"Is... STAR Labs really helping the Flash?" she asked, nervous, and Hartley thought he recognized her based on her voice.  He'd met her and James once, when she was dropping her son off at Annie's for a slumber party; he'd held the door open for them as he came in the building and ridden the elevator up with them, lost in thought that day about... about whether he intended to take up Barry's offer of a job at STAR Labs or not.  He'd only been in his apartment for a few days at that point, living off money that Barry had given him - Hartley had wanted to refuse, but Barry had made a convincing argument about using his inheritance from Dr. Wells in ways the villain would not have approved of...

"Please, just... consider keeping them home, okay?"

"I think I will."

Hartley stayed on the line long enough to say goodbye to Danny and then pocketed his phone.  He slid back in as Cisco explained how the whole anti-Earth-2-humans weapon worked.

"Okay, you didn't do it yourself," Harry was complaining.

Cisco, however, just grinned irrepressibly.  "Just let me have this one."

"If anyone should be complaining, it's me," Hartley tossed in, moving to stand beside Barry.  "It was my idea."

"I built the device," Cisco grumbled.

"And that's why we're letting you have this one," Hartley replied evenly, grinning when Barry reached over to take his hand and lace their fingers together.

"Thank you."  Cisco perked back up.  Then he began to rattle off the science that, admittedly, didn't sound too different from the sort of technobabble that Hartley would expect from any of his favorite science fiction shows.  Harry kept correcting Cisco's terminology regarding the Earth-2 frequency.  Not erratic, higher.

Part of him wondered how this had become his life.  Though if this were a TV show then it was definitely _Fringe_.  They already had the whole multi-verse and time-traveling bad guys going on, after all.

(If Barry was Olivia, did that make him Peter?)

"When that pulse hits anyone from Earth-2... it'll disrupt their nervous system. Earth-2 metas go night-night," Cisco finished with a flourish.

"Even Zoom?" Joe asked skeptically.

"Maybe Zoom," Hartley spoke up.  "Since speedsters can change the frequency at which they vibrate... if the pulse doesn't build up fast enough then he'll adjust before it can do more than disorient him.  But it'll significantly reduce the number of metas Zoom can hide behind and that alone is worth it."

Joe nodded in agreement.  "How do we keep the pulse from hurting Harry and Jesse?"

"Oh, Detective," Harry drawled, "I didn't know you cared."

Rolling his eyes, Joe retorted with, "yes you did."

"We designed these," Jesse spoke up, holding up two sets of headphones, "to protect us from the pulse."

"Beats by Wells," Cisco joked with a grin.

 "We still need to finish the larger version of the device so we can transmit the signal, and we're going to need you running a circle on the city to bounce the signal around," Hartley said, bumping shoulders with Barry.

"What about you?  Are your hearing aids up to this?" Barry asked quietly.

"I'll be fine," Hartley promised.

* * *

"How's Black Siren doing?" Barry asked, gazing in at the unconscious woman inside the cell, her arm in a white cast that stood out against her black outfit.

"I set her arm and patched up the abrasions on her arms and legs from where she hit the street," Henry told him.  "I'm sorry... about this Earth's Laurel Lance.  She was your friend?"

Barry nodded.  "Yeah.  She... she was a lot of help after Wells left... everything to me."

"Ah, yes... your lawyer friend from Star City.  That was her?"

"I didn't know her as well as I do Felicity, Oliver, or Dig, but... she was a really amazing person.  Cisco's got a picture of her in her Black Canary outfit from last year, when he helped upgrade her Canary Cry device.  She signed it for him too; you should have seen him geeking out over it when he got back from Star City with Joe."  Touching the control panel, Barry let the cell's outer door slide shut.  "I don't know what to tell Sara or her father.  I mean... if she ever escapes, the last thing I want is for them to get blind sided by her... but they need to understand that she isn't their Laurel either.  If I could just send her back to Earth-2, it'd be another story... but there's no safe way to send these metas back to Earth-2 and we don't have the resources keep them here either.  The metas I dropped off at Iron Heights don't have counterparts here, but the six in the pipeline do... or did, in Laurel's case.  The only thing I can think of is handing them over to ARGUS, but... I don't know how well that'll work.  Not to mention, we're running out of room here anyway."

"They'll keep for now and, maybe, if those friends of yours on the Waverider show up, they'll have some ideas for you," Henry offered.

"Snart'll want to add them to his Rogues, I'll bet," Barry muttered with an amused snort of laughter.

"I met his father a few times, while I was still in prison.  I met Leonard a few times too," Henry trailed off and then said, "I was glad to hear he found something better to do with himself than follow in his father's footsteps."

"I met Lewis Snart too," Barry told him quietly, eyes going distant as he remembered the surprise on the man's face when Leonard iced him.  "He'd put a bomb in his daughter's neck in order to control his son."

"Leonard killed him for it."  Henry said the words with surety.

"Yes.  He did.  Then he handed over his cold gun and went to jail, without so much a word of protest."

"So... who's the rest of the Waverider's crew?"

Barry smiled and led the way out of the pipeline, telling his dad about Mick Rory, Professor Stein, Jax Jackson, Sara Lance, Ray Palmer, and the Hawks.  He told him about fighting Vandal Savage with Team Arrow (who were now too busy dealing with Damien Darhk to contact for help with Zoom's metas) and the League of Assassins.

But mostly he just talked with his father and reveled in the look of wonder and pride that filled Henry Allen's face.

* * *

The next 'weapon' in Zoom's arsenal made himself known around seven that evening when blue flames erupted over an office building just south of STAR Labs.

That was about the same time the Waverider popped into existence in the parking lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Home renovations. O_O I keep thinking the end result will be worth it, but the stress of being in the middle of it is... draining.


End file.
